To be a Big Brother
by Bolinlover123
Summary: Just some tiny scenes of little Mako and Bolin before thier parent's died, and now every two years as they get older after. Very simple, as to be told from a little kid's point of view. Purposely plainfully written, yet I hope it makes you smile! A little Mako comforting little Bolin moment. Feels all around...gah, I love these two! :) Let me know what you think. Next chaper is up!
1. Chapter 1- The Promise

When his mother had stopped screaming and the weird looking healers had come out of the big room with his father, Mako was lifted up into his father's arms from where he sat on the floor, playing with blocks; tears shown in his father's amber eyes.

"Dadda, why are you sad?" The almost three-year- old Mako asked, and he remembers just how his father's voice had sounded when he replied:

"Daddy is happy, Mako. Daddy has happy tears."

"Happy tears?"

"Yes, sweetie. Remember Mommy and I said you were getting a baby brother or sister?"

And Mako's curious amber eyes gazed at the lump in his mother's arms as his father carried him into the room.

His father put him on the bed, allowing him to crawl onto her lap to look at what was there.

"How are your feeling, Mailin?" His father asked his mother with love and gentle concern.

"Just fine, dear-a little tired, though. But look, look at our beautiful baby boy. Healthy as a moose-lion! Just look at him, Kuzaan! Isn't he precious?"

"He is, darling. Just like Mako."

"Two little boys...the Spirits blessed us so well..." Mailin whispered with joy.

"He has your eyes...Maybe he'll be an Earthbender..."

Feeling a little left out, Mako piped in," Mommy, what's that?" he poked the green bundle.

"This is your baby brother, Mako. Say hello to Bolin."

"Bowin?"

And that was when the fateful bond started; little brother to big brother, forever love, an inseperable tie that would be the will to survive for years to come.

Baby green eyes began to open, staring right into amber's- and the tie was set.

"Hi, Bowin!" And a little giggle escaped the newborn's mouth.

"Do you want to hold him, Mako?"

Just then, the baby was gently placed in his tiny hands. The new life's tiny fist rapped around one of Mako's fingers.

"You're a big brother now, Mako. It's your job to take care of Bolin now, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy!"

And he wasn't sure what being a big brother meant or why he was told that he had a big job now, but all he knew was that he was going to be the best that he could ever be, as long as Bolin never stopped giggling and sucking at Mako's thumb.

He thought it maybe meant loving him as much as he loved his Mommy and Daddy.

If that's what being a big brother meant, then he was going to be the best ever.


	2. Chapter 2- The Bond

_Two years later. Mako is four, Bolin, two_

"Momma! Bolin stole my platipus-bear again!" A four- year- old Mako's whines could be heard all the way down the hall. "Nanu is _mine_! I want him back!"

Two seconds later, his mother found him in her bedroom threshold; a pout on his red face and tears in his wide amber eyes.

"Mako, baby, remember what I told you about sharing?" Their mother came over, a loving smile lighting her emerald eyes, and she picked up her son, "Bolin just want's to play with Nanu for a little bit. Why don't you go play together?"

"No! Put me down! I don't wanna play with him! He always takes my toys and drools everywhere! You gave Nanu to _me _so he's mine!" The toddler pouted, his temper-tantrum escalating with kicking limbs, trying to squirm out of his mother's embrace.

Mailin sighed, and placed her son on the floor where he plopped on his bottom with his head down. She had known that Mako had been getting jealous of Bolin recently-but hopefully that was something he, like all children, would grow out of. Kuzaan was the youngest and only son of his parents, with three older triplet sisters who now all lived off in the Fire Nation somewhere. But, if he could grow out of his jealousy, then so would Mako. He was still so young, and there was no doubt her sons loved each other. It would just take some time.

"Mako, sweetie. I want you to look at me, alright? Will you do that for Momma?"

And watering eyes met loving green. Mailin took her delicate fingers and rubbed away the tears,

"Now, where's that smile that I love? Where did it go?"

Mako instantly perked up, "Here it is!" He pointed to his mouth.

"Oh, there it is! I found it!" and giggles erupted from Mako. "Now, Mako, what did Daddy and I tell you about being a good big brother?"

"I dunno." was his replay as he looked away.

"Mako..." Mailin used a slightly stern voice.

"You said he would l-l..._look up to me now!_ You said to always share and-and- and care, and play every day! To protect Bolin and love him forever and ever! That's what I promised!" Mako exclaimed, hoping he got the answer right.

"That's right, sweetheart! That's my good little man!" Mako's smile was huge, "Now go run along and finish playing with Bolin and remember what I told you! Daddy should be getting home soon and it's almost dinner time!" She called after her son as he ran down the hall, into the bedroom that the boys shared.

Mailin looked on and shook her head with a smile. She had two amazing and beautiful boys. Maybe they would even be benders someday, despite she and Kuzaan's lack of bending. It didn't matter to her; she just knew they were special, and, regardless of Mako's earlier tears, he was a very protective brother for his age. She didn't know what was ahead for her and her family, but all she knew was that she couldn't wait to watch her two little boys grow up to be amazing.

_The Spirits blessed us so well..._


	3. Chapter 3- The Brotherhood

_Three years later. Mako is seven, and Bolin, five._

"But, Momma! I'm not tired!" The little Bolin squealed, even as a yawn escaped his puckering lips. "Daddy said he'd tell us a story!"

The little boy scrambled to crawl up into his mother's arms and not be tucked in. Mailin chuckled and ruffled her younger son's dark curls. Even at five-years-old, Bolin couldn't keep his button nose out of picture books, and would probably beg their father to tell him stories all night if he could. He was so rambunctious, like a monkey-rat. Mako was much more calm and quiet, like herself.

"I'm sorry, my turtle-duck, but it's bedtime now." She cooed,"Daddy already told you two stories; about the Moon Spirit and "_The Boy in the Iceberg_."

Bolin began to pout, green eyes glistening,"But-but...but, Mommy! _Why_ was he in the icicle? Was he not part Fire Nation? Wasn't he cold? _I_ would be cold! But I'm not right now 'cause you keep me warm!" he smiled, "And you always say that family keeps each other's hearts warm, and-and- and..."

More chuckles came from Mailin and she smiled affectionately at her son, "Shhhh...Shhh, darling. How are you so hyper? Didn't you drink your milk?"

"Uh huh!" Bolin beamed, "And Daddy gave me and Mako candy!" Mailin frowned, "But he told me not to tell you that 'cause he said you'd get mad...Opps..."

"He did, did he?" Mailin raised an eyebrow, "I'll have to have a talk with your daddy."

Bolin fired more questions, "But why was the boy in the icicle? Did he turn into a popsicle? Can _I_ have a popsicle?"

Ruffling bed sheets caused the mother and the little boy to turn to the bed beside them, "It was an "_iceberg_", Bo. " The older boy with sleepy amber eyes mumbled, "And it's 'cause he was the Avatar, right, Momma?"

"That's right, Mako. Avatar Aang was trapped in the Iceberg for one-hundred years. And-" she replayed before a curious Bolin could pipe in, "The end of the story can wait for another night. It's time for night-night for my babies."

"Aweeeee...Mommaaa..." Bolin whined.

"I'm not a baby..." Mako grumbled, "I'm seven!"

Mailin held up her hands in surrender, "Okay, okay, my apologies! It bedtime for my brave little men."

Both boy's smiles reached their ears.

"But you'll always be my babies, forever and ever!" Thier mother gave huge, wet kisses to both their cheeks, making them squirm and giggle.

She began to tuck them both in their little beds, heavy eyelids against fluffy pillows.

"Daddy and I love you so much, my darlings. Goodnight..." And with a breath of air, the candle died and surrounded the little room in darkness.

"Night-night, Mommy..." Mako mumbled, already half in dream land.

"I love you, too, Mommy!" Bolin whispered.

Then the door shut behind them and their mother was gone.

Mako hadn't shut he eyes for over a minute before he heard little whispers that gradually got annoyingly louder:

"Mako...? Psssttt...Mako! Big brother?"

Mako made a grumble that he hoped would silence his brother, thinking Bolin just wasn't tired and wanted to play with him more-which was most nights when it was really dark out. They had gotten in trouble once because they had gone downstairs and stolen cookies from the jar. Mako wondered how Bolin had more energy than a plattipus-bear.

Just when Mako had thought he was starting to have a nice dream, out of the quiet darkness, came a quiet pipe: "Mako...I'm scareded!"

Amber eyes flew open and he turned his head to face Bolin's watering eyes in the opposite side of the room, his head nearly burried under his blankets.

"Why are you scared?" Mako asked.

"'Cause I-I had the scary dream again last night! The one were Mommy and Daddy got hurt really bad and-and-and we couldn't find them! Y-you came to me and said they were gone. And I was real scareded!" Bolin was trembling now, lips puckering, holding onto Nanu for the life of him.

Mako sighed. Bolin had been having this dream a lot lately, and when he had told Mommy and Daddy, they had gotten really worried, but said it was just a dream.

Mako knew that big people knew everything, especially their Mommy and Daddy. Plus, he had promised to be the best big brother ever; so for not the first time in the last three years that Bolin was old enough to sleep in a bed, Mako pulled up the covers of his bed, inviting Bolin to crawl inside. He even let him have Nanu this time, even thought he really was _his_ platipus-bear.

"What if something happens to Mamma and Poppa, Mako?" Bolin's breath was hot against his ear as he snuggled close to his brother.

"Bolin, nothings gonna happen to them. 'Sides, even if it did, I'd take care of you," Mako replayed, ruffling his hair,"'cause I'm older and a big boy."

"But..."Bolin's voice was quiet, face red, "But you don't know how to be a Momma or Poppa."

Bolin was crying now, fat tears falling from his big green eyes that showed everything through them.

"Hey..." Mako used his thumb to wipe away the tears just like Mommy and Daddy always did, "No crying, it's okay. It was just a bad dream. Momma and Daddy are gonna be here forever. And no matter what, I'm gonna protect you. 'Cause that's what brothers do!"

"They do?" Bolin asked.

"Uh huh! 'Course they do! That's what Mommy says, and Mommy's always right." Mako looked right at his younger brother, "I take care of ya anyway, don't I?" He hoped Bolin would say '_yes'_. "Aren't I a good brother?" Mako didn't know what he'd do if Bolin said he wasn't a good one.

But Bolin's eyes instantly went wide and he blurted out, "The _bestest! _I told my teacher about you and she said you should always hug your brother eevvvvveerryy day! So here!"

And the younger boy suddenly squished his face against his older brother's, his arms wrapped around him tightly. Mako instantly returned the hug.

"Were gonna be brothers forever, right, Mako?" Bolin whispered against Mako's ear.

Mako felt his heart swell up: the day Bolin was born bringing images to his memory.

_"You're a big brother now, Mako. You gotta take care of Bolin, now, okay?"_

_"Okay, Mommy!"_

He had been little then, and hadn't known what his mother meant or what being a big brother really was.

Now he did, and it felt like the best thing in the world, almost like he was a superhero.

Mako closed his eyes as he felt them start to get wet, and buried his face in Bolin's web of curls. "Right, Bo. Forever. I love you, little brother."

"I love you back, big brother!"

When their parents found them the next morning, they were tangled in each other arms, the blanket drapped upon them; Bolin's fingers gripping Mako's hand, Mako's arm around him as if in protective shield. Kuzaan and Mailin knew that their boys had a bond that would be strong beyond words.

* * *

_Been thinkning_: _Should I continue this after thier parents died, and write how they both handled it, and keep going every chapter to a point in thier lives about every two years? I've thinking about graudally making the writing more angsty and safisticated with every chapter as they get older?_

_What do you think? I'm making it simple now because they are little babies...hmmmm... :O_

_Open to opinions! Thank you! 3_


	4. Chapter 4- That Night: Part 1

_One year later: Mako is eight, Bolin, Six._

_The Last night:_

A happy little family walking down the slowly darkening streets of Republic City; two little boys holding hands between them, wide-eyed and giggling, the events of the day still showering them with excitement, despite it being past their bedtime.

"Daddy! Oh, Daddy!" Bolin exclaimed, tugging on his father's sleeve when his green eyes spotted the ice cream stand. He knew Daddy would cave in easier than Mommy; Daddy always had a sweet tooth. "Can we get ice cream, _pretty please?"_ He used his pouting skills to his father's mercy.

"Sure, sport!" Kuzan instantly said.

"Oh, no! Sweetie," Mailin replied, giving her husband a look, "It's past their bedtime- they're going to be up for hours! You want these little rugrats running around the house?" She gave a raise of her eyebrow.

"Yes he does!" Bolin answered for his father, " Pleeeaaassee, Momma? Just a little bit? I promise I'll go to bed as soon as we get home!" he smiled innocently.

Mailin signed, knowing that her younger son most certainly wouldn't hold this promise, but all three of her favorite boys eyes were giving her puppy-lamb looks.

"Please, Momma?" Mako asked, "They have your favorite, _'rockey-road_!'"

Giving in she said, "Oh, alright, but one scoop each, okay, Kuzaan? " She looked to her husband, who was rubbing a hand behind his neck, "They get this from you, you know." Mako and Bolin were already cheering and running to the stand, "Boys, wait for us!"

"I know, sweetie. But they get everything else from you." he whispered into her ear, giving her a peck on the cheek. "Extra cherries?" he asked her with a knowing smile.

"You know just what I like." she kissed his temple.

Then the couple made their way over to their boys, both who were bouncing on the balls of their feet impatiently.

"Poppa, can I have sprinkles on mine?" Mako asked.

"Of course, little man."

"I want sprinkles, too!" Bolin exclaimed.

"You always get what I get!" Mako complained, "Stop copying me!"

"But I want sprinkles!" Bolin pouted.

"Nuh uh! You just said that 'cause I said it first! You're a copy-cat!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"You're a meany!" Bolin stated with teary eyes.

"Boys, settle down or neither of you will have any ice cream." Kuzaan stated. "We can go straight home. Is that what you want?"

"No..." they both grumbled.

"Then apologize to each other. You both can have whatever you want, it doesn't matter if you get the same thing. Your mother and I both love a lot of the same things, does that mean I'm a copy-cat?"

"No, Poppa." Mako said with his head down.

"Right. Then say you're sorry to each other."

"Sorry, Bolin..." Mako said with a guilty look in his eyes.

"It's okay, I'm sorry, too." Bolin pipped.

"That's my boys." their father smiled, "Now, lets have some ice cream!"

"Yaaaaaayyyyyyy!"

* * *

An hour later, after all ice cream was licked away during the family's walk through the park; mouths were sticky, and eyelids heavy, they decided to make thier way home.

The moon high in the sky, and street lamps giving the only light in rays of glowing orange, they made their way through the streets.

Bolin- despite his mother's preconceptions that he would be a ball of suger- fueled energy- was dozing off in their mother's arms, and Mako was trudging along, holding his daddy's hand, trying to be a big boy and not fall asleep before they reached home. The wind was starting to pick up, as most Republic City nights were cold.

"That was a nice night we had, huh, champ?" Kuzaan noticed his son shivering a bit, "Here, why don't you wear my scarf untill we get home, okay? I promise I doesn't look lame on you."

"Thank's, Daddy..." Mako said as his father's strong arms began to ravel the red fabric about his neck, tucking his ears snugly inside.

"There, better?"

"Uh huh! But, Daddy, do you think I'll be a Firebender some day? I heard that Firebenders never get cold!"

Thier father laughed, patting his son's hair, "Where'd you hear that? I'm sure Firebenders get cold just like everyone else. But I want you to remember something, Mako." Kuzaan focused his amber eyes into Mako's, amber to amber, "Wheather you or your brother are benders or not, will never change how much we love you both, alright? Do you understand, sweetie? Your mother and I aren't bender's and if you aren't either, it doesn't make you any less than them. But if you can bend Fire or Earth eventually, I know you both with be forces to be reckoned with."

"Really? You think so?" Mako beamed.

"I know so."

Bolin moaned, opening his eyes and looking at them, "I wanna be a Firebender, Daddy! I wanna be like Fire L...Fi-fire Laa..."

"_'Fire Lord Zuko.'_" Maillin corrected, "Or you could be an Earthbender, Bo, sweetie. Like my mother was."

"Yeah, take that you rock! Grrrrrr!" Bolin growled, punching his hand in the air, causing Mailin to nearly drop him,"Hear me tremble!"

The other's burst out laughing and Bolin blushed.

"Deffenitly a force to be reckoned with." Mailin nuzzled her nose against her younger son.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A happy little family on a happy little stroll." a dark voice drawled, and they all stopped. From the shadows came a horrid looking man, with a greasy beard and arms covered in dragon tattoos and piercings. He spit a wad of _something_ on the ground. His hard, blood-shot eyes trailed them up and down with a sadistic look, "Psh, well, you just happened to catch me in a sympathetic mood. I'll give you ten seconds to give me all your money," he grinned horrible, exposing yellow teeth. Suddenly, he lit his hand ablaze, the flames dancing devilishly, and shot a spark at Mako's feet, causing him to yell and leap back in fear, "Or you're all gonna be crispy in eleven."

Everyone was too shocked to speak for a moment, but Bolin could be heard fearfully mumbling, "_F-f-f-f...f-flaming...M-monster..."_

_Part 1 of "That Night" done, part 2 soon to come. Please review!_

* * *

_Been thinking_: _Should I continue this after their parents died, and write how they both handled it, and keep going every chapter to a point in their lives about every two years? I've thinking about gradually making the writing more angsty and sophisticated with every chapter as they get older?_

_What do you think? I'm making it simple now because they are little babies...hmmmm... :O_

_Open to opinions! Thank you! 3_


	5. Chapter 5- Rant, Ramble, Head-cannons

_Hey everyone! Sorry that I've taken a break from this, but I'm back now!_

_I would just like to share will you all some news and other things; the next chapter will arive shortly, I promise you! Just be _patient_ * Korra groans*_

_So, I'm sure you've all heard by now from the LOK art book that Mako and Bolin's mother was pronounced to be from the Fire Nation, and their father from the Earth Kingdom! :)_

_Excuse me for a moment...OMG! YEAAAHHHHHHH! WOOHOOO finnally some information! There _is_ hope!_

_Anyway..._

_I thought it was the opposite, as much of the fandom did, but NOPE! I'm pretty sure Bryke made it opposite just to spite us._

_(For this particular story of mine, because I have already started it, I will keep the parents' nationalities as Mother; Earth, and Father; fire)_

_Forgive me, but I_ _must go into a slight ramble about this little fact that I was very joyas to learn about:_

_I don't really know how to describe it, but I'm very happy that their mother was from the Fire Nation, and not the other around. Having their father from the Fire Nation just seems a bit too cliché for me. I wanted a non evil female Fire Nation character- beside Asami I mean, who I ADORE BTW._

_Btw, one little thing on Asami. I know in her bio it says she is fully Fire Nation, and he father certainly looks it. I may be being racist ( Sorry Asami) but I thought she was Earth Kingdom because of her green eyes. I thought she was half and half like the boys, but then I got confused when the bio said she is fully FN, despite her green eyes..._

_Hmm..as beautiful and strong as Asami is, this confused me. Why does she not look FN if her mother wasn't? IS SHE ADOPTED?! :(_

_Guys, what if she really isn't Haroshi's daughter like- SPOILER ALERT, SPOILER ALERT- Zuko wasn't really Ozai's as we found out in the "Search"? :0_

_Guys, I really think I over analyze things..._

_I could go on and on and explain how much I hate said above spoiler about said lovely Fire Nation prince, because Zuko's lack of real relation to Ozai now defeats the purpose of his WHOLE GROWTH AND CHARACTER DEVELTMENT and omg my father hated me and litteraly scared me for life..._

_Oh, nvm, if was just some guy who I thought was my father..._

_Zuko, baby, I love you, but in my world, the "Search" never happened, you are fully realted to Ozai and Azula. Sorry._

_Back to Asami! What if she's adopted and doesn't know it, and that's another reason why Haroshi was so quick to try to kill her!? OMG GUYS!_

_Nah, I really rather that not be true, and have her be fully related. My head-cannon for her is that her grandmother on her mother's side was part Earth Kingdom and that's who she got her eye color from._

_Back to the brothers!_

_I wanted for some reason, for their Earth Kingdom father to wear the red scarf because I thought it would be interesting. Also, notice how the book said that each parent CAME from those two Nations are weren't just those nationalities but happened to be born in the city. No, they both for what ever reason, left the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom and came to republic city, fatefully meeting._

_...Or maybe they met somewhere else and came to the city because she was pregnant with Mako?!_

_So many ideas you guys._

_Anyway, I will repeat that I really like having the mother as Fire Nation, and father as Earth Kingdom._

_Lastly, I would like so share some head-cannons, and authors that I agree with and the other inspirations for this story._

_"Master Arrowhead" on Devientart:_

_I have greatly adopted her head-cannon about the boys' parents, Mailin and Kazou, and If the world worked my way, that is what they would be like. Anyone who has not seen her work should go to Devientart, or "The Avatar's Legacy" where she has a huge display of the bro's family artwork and theories for these characters. She has also, changed the parents' a tiny bit to match them with their newly deemed nationalities. They are __essentially the same people, just flip-floped fire and earth._

_Insperation for my from my fav LOK stories ever comes from the AMAZING STORIES of "_Scarf"_ by _flutflutflyer_, _and "No Church in the Wild" _by_ Slacktension

_If you have not read these stories by this astoundingly gifted writings ( in my opinion) you have no lived! You're heart is still whole though, because once you read these stories, your heart will shatter!_

_I also agree with the head-cannon in "No Church in the Wild" that each side of the boys' grandparents, disowned their children and hated the other's spouse because they were both deeply prejudiced, also hating the grandson that took after the other side. _

_For example, in the first chapter, when their grandfather on their father's side- who in this story happens to be FN- asks if his son is alive and finds out not, he looks at Mako for a moment and wants to take custidy of ONLY HIM. Then, looks at Bolin's green eyes and turns away disgusted, telling Lin Bei Fong he wants nothing to with them.  
_

_Then later, lin is talking on the phone with thier Mother's mother who yells and says she wants nothing to do with SULFER SMELLING, HOT HEADED FIRE NATION._

_Basically it's heart breaking because the boys pracially watch as both their grandparents abandon them and disown them in front of their faces._

_Head cannon is that this really happened, but the nationalities are real and what the book said. That in an actaull episode it will explain that they GP on their dad's side-EK- passed away while they were on the streets, and their mother's side FN- wants to come and see Mako. Both boys hate them, but mostly Bolin, because he feels that if he at least LOOKED FN, then they would'nt have adandoned them. Honestly, if they're GP ever do show up, I think both boys would be pissed, but Bolin would step out of being funny and show some real deep hidden resentment and curse them out and yell and say like " you left us to die, mako raised me and you left us because of the color of my eyes!"_

_Omg guys, just omg, just please read "The Church in the Wild" and you will understand..._

_. In this story, Firebenders are hated very much and treated badly do to predudiced and lingering hatred from the war. Any one married to one is hated, too, esspecally kids of mixed race. Mako was afraid to go anywhere with just his mother and bo 'cause ppl would stare at him and be like OMG WHY IS THIS EARTH KINGDOM LADY WITH A FIRE NATION BOY._

_I mean, come on guys, I know it's been 70 years and the war is over, the you can't tell me the bro's never got smack for being mixed race. I'm pretty sure Fire Benders are doomed to be looked down upon, so tell me Bolin never got smack for being realated for Fire Bender._

_Anyway. Head-cannons._

_These are heardwrenching; prepare feels._

_Like in "Scarfs" it was Bolin's sixth bd, and the parents took Mako out to get Bo a cake. They also live in an apartment complex, which is why they left a six-year old home._

_I can't decide wheather I want Mako to just tell Bolin their parents are dead like in "NCIHW", or keep making excusess for two years strait about how they are just taking a really long time to get him bday cake, like in "Scarf"_

_I am crying..._

_If the family was together that night, like i pray they were- both boys saw the man, but when their parents told them to run..._

_Bolin ran, but Mako didnt._

_Mako saw it happen, (hence "he cut them down right in front of me") but Bo kept running and turned back when heard the screams and fire._

_He came back to see Mako crying over thier bodies and asked what was wrong and why Mamma and Pappa werent waking up._

_Mako took him and ran..._

_I think no matter what it will be Bolin's 6th bday guys, okay? I just like angst. I think I'm becoming sadistic. _

_Bo can't remember his parents faces omg...he was thier that night be was too tramatized so be blocked the memorty out.._

_Oh, wow, I am ruthless! What kind of a person am I!_

_Please commant and and review and share your ideas with me! :)_

* * *

I will continue this after their parents died, and write how they both handled it, and keep going every chapter to a point in their lives about every two years. I've thinking about gradually making the writing more angsty and sophisticated with every chapter as they get older.

What do you think? I'm making it simple now because they are little babies...hmmmm... :O

Open to opinions! Thank you!


	6. Chapter 6- The Promise and the Will

_Do you still truly exist if no one cares? When two boys merely survive, who the will? When promises are the only wills to come by in the game of Life or Death, cruelty can brutally crumble resolve. _

_I'll be the solid, if you'll be the warmth._

_What defines a big brother, but by age?_

* * *

_Time Skip: three years lat_er_. Mako, eleven, and Bolin, nine._

* * *

"Mako?" Bolin murmured as they huddle against the alleyway, he absent-mindedly watching some insects crawl on his blackend toes, not bothering to flick them off. It had been three years since their parents were killed, and life wasn't getting any easier- no, scratch that; _surviving _wasn't getting any easier.

Bolin always tried to be optimistic, because he just _needed_ to be- one of them needed to be or they wouldn't have any will. And Bolin was going to be the will for both of them, or dear Agni he would die trying.

But lately he couldn't. He couldn't smile for Mako, couldn't be the will, couldn't _find_ the will with within himself. He just _couldn't-_ not when Mako was slowly withering away and there was nothing he could do about it. He had wrapped Mako's scarf more firmly around his big brother's neck, so secure that any tighter and he feared he might choke his shivering brother-but still the firebender shook. Bolin had bundled the only blanket they had around him, tried to get him to sip some water and eat some bread, but it only came back up, and then he had fainted- giving Bolin a heart-attack- and hadn't awoken for nearly an hour later. Mako's fever hadn't broken for days and was only escalating, garbles of gibberish the only thing mumbled from his cracked lips for far too long.

Bolin was only nine- he couldn't be a doctor! He couldn't imagine how being a firebender only added to their natural body heat. Mako would know what to do, he always knew what to do when Bolin was sick, but he was clueless. He couldn't even fight for money or medicine- he was nine and still hadn't bent a thing; no fire danced on his finger tips, no rocks rumbled beneath his fists, and he was convinced he was a helpless non-bender.

He had no idea what to do. But he did know one thing. Soon-very soon- he was going to left alone. Mako just didn't have the strength.

He better prepare himself.

"Y-yeah, Bo….?" Mako's voice sounded so _weak._

Bolin tried not to wince at as another hacking round of coughing tore from his brother's throat, racking his normally strong- and now thin as a thread-looking frame. He couldn't bring himself to look anywhere but his bare feet.

"If you die before me, you have to promise me something." His voice chocked him, a whisper the size of his heart, "When you see Mommy and Daddy, you have to tell them how much I love them, and you have to tell them to give me a sign, okay? They have to give me a sign so I know you're all still watching. Can you do that for me?"

Mako forced himself to stop coughing, his throat raw and tickled. His heart almost stopped, his eyes huge on his face, staring at his utterly hopeless and miserable little brother. Bolin's greasy hair, a tangled mess tied back into a pony tail, his face scratched a dirty, clothes hanging off his skeleton. Mako didn't want to admit to what he had just heard. It was the most pained, heart breaking thing anyone had ever said to him. He was feverish and had been slightly hallucinating earlier, but he knew this was real. He needed to tell Bolin everything would be alright- but that would require lying. He had always been able to do it in the past to protect his brother, and now, he tried to muster up all the strength and courage to lie for what might be his last time, but only to try to give his brother a sliver of hope.

"_No._ I won't need to because that's not gonna happen, Bolin. I-" and he gagged and coughed up what felt like his left lung, as he very guiltily watched the earthbender bury his head further in his arms, "am gonna be fine. You've gotten sick a lot before, right? Well, this time it's my turn. It's just a cold, which is why I'm freezing, see? _C-c-cold." _he rattled his teeth,_ "_And I'm sweating because my body is trying to get all the bad stuff outta me and get better and get my temperature back to normal. I'll be good as new in no time." He smiled gently for Bolin. His arms felt lead-heavy, and his sleeves were sticking to his skin with sweat, but he managed to reach out and ruffle the lank tangles of cobwebs that were Bolin's hair.

His heart sung in his chest as Bolin pulled away, his lips pulled tight.

"Don't lie to me. You're dying."

"Bo-"

"You're gonna die, and it's my fault because I can't help you." Bolin whispered, "I'm gonna be alone, so I'm asking you to do this for me when you see them. When you're in the Spirit World with them or wherever in the name of Yue it is dead people go, you have to tell them I love them and to give me a sign. Anything. I don't care what it is. Just so I can continue to hope."

Mako, feeling sick to his stomach at the cruelty of this possibility, found his eyes drowning and his cheeks wet. He looked at the younger boy and found his face eerily dry, but something in his green orbs nothing like Mako had ever seen before. Bolin's steady gaze locked on Mako's facing.

Mako felt his resolve crumble. "…But I- I _don't want to_." He whispered, "I don't want to die, Bolin. I don't want to leave you- I-I _won't!, "_He yelled,_" _I WON'T, you hear me?! So just shut up with this crazy talk! We made a promise to each other that we would always be there for each other no matter what and you can't break that promise with another promise!"

"Sorry." Bolin uttered, "You're right. I'm a bad brother. I'm a promise breaker….but that doesn't mean we can't use that second promise, okay?" He looked Mako dead in the eyes, "Just say it, please. I just need to here you say it, just in case, just so I can know."

Mako swallowed the lump in his throat, make sore by the inflamed back of his throat. How could he promise him something like that? It was like guaranteeing Bolin that he was going to be the first one to go.

He would _never_ leave Bolin alone.

" Mako?" Bolin asked, begging him now.

And he had to, Mako just couldn't deny him hope in case the unthinkable should happen.

He swallowed again, wrapping his arms tighter around himself, teeth chattering. He looked away from Bolin, closeing his eyes for a moment, and knew if he was in Bolin's place he would want the same thing. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and found he could see the clearest had had in days, without the cloud of illness.

He turned and secured his arms around his little brother. Drawing Bolin close to him, letting Bolin's ears listen to his steady heartbeat, as if to disprove any doubts he was having.

But still, he had to say it.

_"I promise."_

Bolin sighed softly and let himself drift into a worriless sleep, _"Thank you."_


	7. Chapter 7-That Night: Part 2

_Continuation of "That Night: Part one" As stated in my earlier post, all chapters will be from this moment on until it reaches previous chapter three years later in "The Promise and the Will." I will explain once the story reaches that point, and when I will move into the future from that point on. :) All chapters will be spaced out every few years in the boys lives, and from either of thier perspectives in either second, or third person, and I will make clear note of that._

_I hope that made sense, guys! :0_

_Ps, as I have stated in my "Rant, Rambles, and Head-cannons," I am ever so happy to hear that thier mother was Fire Nation, and thier Father was Earth Kingdom! If you want to know why, you may be free to read my crazed fangirl ramble (be warned). I cannot decide whether I want the parents to be benders or not, but for this story, they arent, because I feel that is one of the only ways that they could have been killed by one firebender._

_Lastly, because I have started this story before the news of the brothers' parent's nationalities were revealed, to make it easier for me, their mother will be Earth, and father, fire!_

_Enjoy, and please review! :)_

* * *

That Night: part 2

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A happy little family on a happy little stroll." a dark voice drawled, and they all stopped. From the shadows came a horrid looking man, with a greasy beard and arms covered in dragon tattoos and piercings. He spat a wad of_ something_ on the ground. His hard, blood-shot eyes trailed them up and down with a sadistic look, "Psh, well, you just happened to catch me in a sympathetic mood. I'll give you ten seconds to give me all your money," he grinned horrible, exposing yellow teeth. Suddenly, he lit his hand ablaze, the flames dancing devilishly, and shot a spark at Mako's feet, causing him to yell and leap back in fear, "Or you're all gonna be crispy in eleven!"

Everyone was too shocked to speak for a moment, but Bolin could be heard fearfully mumbling, _"F-f-f-f...f-flaming...M-monster..._"

Silence filled the family, Bolin's shaking hands clutching his mother's skirts, trying to hide. Mako stared at the man, fear stinging his eyes, as a horrible pit filled his stomach.

Was this what Bolin's dreams had been about? Were Mamma and Pappa really gonna die?

No! He fisted his hands, felt something burning, burning, _burning _up from his belly, surging up through his veins like dragon's breath.

_Anger. _

_Rage. _

_Power._

"Mako, stay behind me." his father ordered, seeing his son inching his way from his shielding body.

The man smiled wickedly at Mako, eyes gleaming into the boy's soul, "Yeah, little runt. Just listen to your ol' pops, and I'll let _you_ live!" a breathy, dark cackle from cracked lips as he started closer to his mother, "I said, GIVE ME YOUR SPIRIT-DAMNED MONEY, WOMAN! EMPTY YOUR PURSE!"

"Please, we don't have any money!" Mailin exclaimed, "Please, just let us go!"

"You think I'm stupid?" he sneered, " I see your damn purse, lady! Give me your yuans, now!"

His fiery fist connected with his mother's face with a _crack._

With a cry, she splattered to the ground, blood on her lips.

"Mommy!"

"Don't you dare touch my wife!"

Something snapped inside of Mako, then, like never before.

Another blast of fire.

Not the man's.

_Mako's._

"_Leave my mom and dad alone!"_ he yelled, punching his first blast of fire ever, small, but anger-filled at the man, nearly missing his shoe and catching it ablaze.

"_Mako_!" his father yelled, fear written on his face at seeing his son bend fire for the first time, and horror that he would provoke the man.

"That's it, you little shits! You're all gonna get it now!" the man bellowed, tongue licking with embers, hands shining with light.

His mother stumbled back and cried out, _"Boys, run!_"

"But, Mommy-" Bolin whimpers.

"-Bolin, sweetie, listen to me." Mailin told her son quickly, holding him tight, "Mommy and Daddy will be alright." she looked right in his eyes, "I need you to be big boy for Mommy and run as fast as you can, okay? Mako will be right behind you."

Bolin nodded, body shaking, and fat tears running down his face, "O-okay, Mommy!"

Mailin kissed her youngest son on the head quickly, and gave him a little push.

"Oh, no! No one's going anywhere!" The man screamed, locking eyes with Bolin, "Get back here, you little brat!"

The man moved to attack Bolin, but their father moved in front, and Bolin gave a cry and bolted away.

Bolin ran.

He ran and ran and _ran_ as fast as he could, just like Mommy had told him.

Because Mommy had said it would be okay, and that his dream was just a dream.

He would go and hide, and then Mommy and Daddy and Mako would come and get him...

_Right?_

His _dream_ couldn't possible be real, right? It was just another flaming monster...

He_ ran. _Because Mommy said it would be okay.

He never saw either of them ever again.

* * *

"Mako, I said go with your brother, _now!"_ Kuzaan yelled.

"No!" Mako cried, clinging to his father's leg, "I'm not leaving you! I'm not letting the Flaming Monster get you!"

Kuzaan's eyes instantly shown with fright, and he and Mailin shared a look of remembrance.

"_Mommy, Daddy! I-I keep having the same dream that- that- that you both get eated by a scary flaming monster! He gets you, and me and Mako are all a-a-alone forever!"_

_They crouched down beside their teary-eyed little boy, "Bo, sweetie, look at Mommy. It was just a dream, okay, baby? Daddy and I are gonna be here forever. Nothing is gonna happen to us."_

_"Forever, forever?" He asked._

_"And ever." Kuzaan smiled and ruffled his hair._

"What did you call me, you little half-breed?! That's it!" the horrible man screeched, "I warned you! You better run!"

Then, the _end_ happened.

Mako would relive this moment like a torture; every day for far too long, etched in his brain, his body, his soul.

A Firebending stance.

Two swipes of the hand were all it took; an eruption of searing flames blasted at _his_ face and _her_ chest, eating away at the flesh, unrecognizable faces now.

Two pairs of open eyes- green and amber- staring, but unseeing, lifeless.

_Mommy..._

Another pair of open eyes- amber- young, horrified; never able to forget what they saw, quivering, drowning in tears, stung by the heat.

_Daddy..._

Mommy and Daddy were non-benders. Helplessly defenseless.

**_Fire. _**

**_Screams._**

So much heat surrounding them.

Skin lighting, skin _burning._

The putrid, bitter smell of burning flesh filling his nostrils.

His world spinning.

Suffocating. Screams. Fire.

The most shrill, pain filled screams his ears could ever hear. Screams that wake him up in the dead hours of the night, ring out to him, and at unexpected, random moments in the middle of the day, when he is alone, quiet, with nothing and no one around him to block out the flashbacks.

_Thud…._

_Thud…_

Agony.

They didn't get up. They never moved again.

The loudest _thuds _in his entire life, as if they both weighed ten tons, and weren't lifeless.

Then…

_silence._

The loudest, most horrible, sickening kind of silence that makes the ears bleed. So, so _silent_, like the seconds when you hold your breath, waiting for a bomb to go off; his heart was a drum in his chest.

Everything was silent.

He couldn't move.

Evil laughter. "I told you you'd pay, you little shit! If you tell anybody, I"ll find you and kill _you_!"

But he wasn't pay attention. Just looking at them looking at him, but not seeing him.

Pain. So much pain.

And that _smell..._

_And blood._

Red blood. Staining his shoes.

And silence.

The whole world was silent.

He was shaking, shaking,_ shaking. _Swallowing hard and clamping a hand over his mouth, forcing the bitter acid back down his throat.

He closed his eyes; tried to wake up like Daddy had told him when he was having a bad dream, so when he opened them again, Daddy could come and hug him and tell him everything was alright.

_"Daddy, you and Mommy will never leave me, right? You'll be here forever? Forever, forever? Like for a ba….ba…bazillion years?"_

_"Forever and ever and ever, my little turtle-duck. Until the end of time, I promise."_

Opened them.

Closed_._

Opened.

Nothing changed.

Silence.

Until he started to scream.

_"NO! NO, YOU PROMISED YOU"D ALWAYS BE HERE! GET UP!"_

_"M-mommy...C'mon, we gotta go..." _he bent down and shook her shoulders, "Daddy, please….you promised me,_ Daddy…You promised…."_

And the eight-year-old caved in on himself, a crumpled, defeated mess, sobbing in a ball between their bodies. He heard movement; for a minute the boy was hopeful- but then he saw Bolin from the crack in between blood stained fingers.

He would never forget the look on his brother's face at that moment, or the sound of his voice when the younger boy said: "_M-mako? _What's w-wrong? What's wrong with Mommy and Daddy?"

* * *

Bolin knew he should have stayed put like Mommy had said, but he was so scared to be by himself. Besides, he had been waiting for _forever!_

Well, it had _felt_ like forever anyways, and he was cold, and it was dark, and he wanted to see if Mommy and Daddy and Mako were okay.

He didn't care if he got yelled at by Mommy for coming back; he didn't want to be by himself.

He had ran and ran and _ran. _He had gone all the way down the alley, turned the corner, all the way down the block, to the park where Daddy had always said to go if he ever got lost. He had wanted to go back, but Mommy had said to stay away, so he had sat and fed the turtle-ducks, waiting for his family to come back.

He waited...

And _waited_...

He told himself not to cry, because they would be back any second...

Now he was _really_ worried. Mommy and Daddy and Mako should have all come back by now! Did they forget about him?

Something was wrong.

He tried to be a big boy and remember the way he had came.

Walking_ alllll thee wayyy back_, he was exited to tell Mommy that he had remembered how to get back here all by himself and hadn't gotten lost...

But something was _very_ wrong. He could_ feel_ it.

He finally made it back to the alleyway, and saw a _sickeningly horrible_ sight that would haunt him like no other; a scene that would prevent him from sleeping for countless nights in countless years. A scene he would hate with all his soul, but try with all his might to remember with everything that he was, because maybe then he could remember what Mommy and Daddy looked like.

Maybe, if he could remember this scene, then he could take away all the blood and burning and tears and pain and screams...and see Mommy and Daddy in his mind again.

But at that moment, he didn't know what was wrong.

He saw Mommy and Daddy splayed out on the ground, blood on them, and Mako crying.

Something was very, _very_ wrong.

Mako never cried! He was a _big boy_! He hadn't even cried when he fell out of the tree in their yard last year and scraped up his knees!

Why was Mako crying? What was wrong with Mommy and Daddy; why weren't they moving?

Where had the Flaming Monster gone?

His eyes were streaming wet before he even opened his mouth, "_M-mako? _What's w-wrong? What's wrong with Mommy and Daddy?"

But somehow, he_ knew. _He knew before the pitiful que_s_tion had left his quivering lips.

_"What if something bad happens to Mamma and Pappa,_ _Mako?" Bolin's breath was hot against his ear as he snuggled close to his brother._

_"Bolin, nothing's gonna happen to them.'Sides, even if it did, I'd take care of you," Mako replayed, ruffling his hair,"'cause I'm older and a big boy."_

_"But..." Bolin's voice was quiet, face red, "But you don't know how to be a Mamma or Pappa."_

_Bolin was crying now, fat tears falling from his big green eyes that showed everything through them._

_"Hey..." Mako used his thumb to wipe away the tears just like Mommy and Daddy always did, "No crying, it's okay. It was just a bad dream. Mamma and Daddy are gonna be here forever, they promised. And no matter what, I'm gonna protect you. 'Cause that's what brothers do!"_

_"They do?" Bolin asked._

_"Uh huh! '__Course they do! That's what Mommy says, and Mommy's always right." Mako looked right at his younger brother, "I take care of ya anyway, don't I?" He hoped Bolin would say 'yes'. "Aren't I a good brother?" Mako didn't know what he'd do if Bolin said he wasn't a good one._

"Mako…." He choked out, looking at their still unmoving parents, "Say something….Th-they're….Are- are they d-d….?" He turned his head to Mako, "I want them to wake up! Why won't Mommy and Daddy wake up!?" he wailed.

He couldn't even say it.

He couldn't understand why Mako wasn't crying anymore, but later Bolin will realize he was trying to be strong; and in hours, days, and for years to come, there would be nothing but_ tears_, and he wished that somehow, the tears could put the fire out.

Mako's eyes are unrecognizable, but he takes Bolin's hand in his. He swallows, painful. "I'm never, ever gonna to leave you, Bolin. You're my little brother."

"B-b-but w-w-w…what about, M-mommy and Daddy…?"

Mako's eyes get misty and he looks away from the younger boy.

Then, in the most pained voice ever, a chill that will echo in Bolin's ears at the most unexpected moments to this day, Mako whispers," They're…_they're gone._"

_Gone._

Then, somehow, in some way, Mako gets Bolin on his back, piggy back style, and scarf tight around his neck. He's walking them both away from it all, and Bolin doesn't care where, but all he knows is that for a long time, they both forget what happiness feels like. And he thinks, for a moment, that maybe this day is a mistake, maybe he will wake up soon and find Mommy and Daddy coming to comfort him.

Mako doesn't speak of them or say their names, nor do they cry again until the day after; realization settling in.

It is that night, and first night alone, when a particular chill creeps through their new alleyway.

Bolin asks Mako to warm him up with his fire.

Mako refuses; images of burning bodies and evil fire and laughter filling his mind when he lights his palms.

Mako doesn't bend for a very long time.

That same first night on their own, Bolin asks Mako to sing him a song to put him to sleep.

"What song?" Mako asks.

"Mommy's lullaby. The one she used to sing." Bolin whispers, huddling in on himself, the red scarf covering his ears.

Silence. Realization.

The first time they speak of their fallen parents.

"Mako?"

Amber eyes shift to him.

"I miss Mommy and Daddy."

Silence. Mako buries his head further in the red fabric.

"They're never coming back, are they?"

Silence.

Then...

_Pain_.

A sob from the older boy, followed by a shaking form, and memories of vomit fill his nose.

"It's okay, Mako." Bolin says as he snuggles up closer to his brother, "I'll be your new Mommy and Daddy if you'll be mine."

And Mako just hugs him; hugs Bolin and buries his face in his shoulder, praying he will never leave.

_"You're a big brother now, Mako. You gotta take care of Bolin, now, okay?"_

_"Okay, Mommy!"_

"I love you forever, Mako."

"I love you, too, Bo. I'm gonna protect you, forever."


	8. Chapter 8- Prize Already Earned

Welcome! As many of you know, in the brothers' page of the "Legend of Korra Art Book" it has stated that Mako and Bolin often did many scams when they were little to survive. :)

If we don't get more brother bonding in the next season I will go and kill Mike and Byrne, because we had like next to nothing in bro-bonding! I kept waiting...and waiting... I mean, Mako and Bolin barely interacted, and I could go into a huge ramble about how much I love these two precious orphaned babies...but I'll save you your sanity and mine! :D

*Ahem...* Anyway...

PS...OOOOHHH! Wouldn't it be cool if we get an episode with Bolin doing scams like Toph did in "The Runaway" and Mako being all mad and like "that's not our life anymore, Bolin! We were starving and did that to survive so it was justified, but now it's wrong!"

And my head-cannon is that Bolin is VERY morally grey and sincerely doesn't understand why it's wrong because from the age of six, Mako instilled these morals into his mind that scamming= money= food...ya, know?

Oh, gosh, I'm rambling again anyway, sorry lol!

Ramble ending NOW!

So, this is my take on a day in the life of my precious orphan babies trying to survive by scamming; Mako knowing it's wrong and that his parents would be mad at him and trying to instill good values in Bolin, but at the same time, they have no choice because they are starving and wondering if the ends really do justify the means...

Enjoy, and please review! :)

* * *

_"He's a poor boy, empty as a pocket, empty as a pocket, but nothing to lose..." _: Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes

* * *

_The first few months. Mako, eight, Bolin, six._

Republic City bustling under the heat of the summer sun, the crowded streets omitting the clanks of over stuffed pockets filled with gold coins.

Seas of sweaty people rushing past in bunches, wads of yuans being exchanged. The wispy sounds of the papery treasure graining against open palms, never enough, more, more,_ newspaper, get the daily Republic City Newspaper, folks, only seven yuans a day; jook, fresh jook, ladies and gentlemen, get it while it's hot!_

Mako was hyper-aware of the saliva collecting in his mouth as his eyes mercilessly locked upon the heaping bowels of sweet jook from across the street; the stand wafted over the scent of the rice and the butter, mixed in with all the spices, as the vendor scooped up another _precious_ spoonful and filled another bowel for her waiting customer- just like everyday.

His stomach _pleaded._

Just like everyday.

His hallow eyes watched as the jook-filled carton was exchanged from vendor to customer with smiles, yuans slipping from one tanned palm to the other with slight crinkles, thank you's and farewells shared, and life went on just like any other summer morning in Republic City.

Just like the day before, and the day before that...

He was tired of watching life go on, but _not living._

How many times had Bolin cried, and begged, and whimpered that he was hungry, but he had to force himself to look away and painfully state that yet again, they had found nothing and had to go hungry another night?

But that wasn't the worst; what was worse was the defeated look in his brother's eyes each time, the ways his hands clenched his stomach that was barely a stomach anymore beneath paper-thin fabric, and always, inevitably saying, _"Okay, Mako."_

Giving in.

No more.

He couldn't stand letting Bolin starve anymore. Spirits, it had only been eight Agni-damned months!

His gaze swam upon an amber-eyed father giving his green-eyed son a bowel of jook, and in those happy green eyes across the street, past the divide separating the two worlds, he saw the boy Bolin used to be and never would be again, "Thank you, Daddy," the boy sang. The father smiled and ruffled the mat of dark hair, "Jook is my favorite!"

He felt flames heating his fingers and swallowed back the lump in his throat.

Somewhere next to him, he heard a stomach growl; the never-ending sound.

He didn't need to turn to know what would come next: Bolin abruptly clenched the thin flesh with his fingers just like every time, and the sound stopped.

But it would always be back again.

He needed to do something, no matter the risk.

"Mako...does this make us bad boys? I feel like a bad boy." Bolin whispered, cracked lips pouting on his sunken, dirty face that only months ago had been pudgy and white.

Mako swallowed back his pride for the thousandth time, and made a note to give Bolin a bath later in the pond. They both stunk like ostrich-horses; when was the last time either of them had bathed?

_Be a good boy for Mommy and Daddy, Mako. We'll be back in a little bit._

_Oh, what good little boys you have! Such precious little dears..._

"M-Mako?"

Bolin's scared voice and tugging on his sleeve had started him out of his memories as his pushed their voices away.

"Hush, Bo. We gotta be quiet," Mako whispered back, putting a grimy hand over his brother's mouth.

Bolin fidgeted away, tears swimming in his green orbs, "But...but-but, Mako! I don't like this...Momma and Poppa wouldn't like this! The Spirits don't like bad boys! What if-if someone s-sees us! I'm scared!"

Mako frowned and yelled at himself. He last thing he wanted was to get Bolin mixed in with all this; but he had thought that maybe Bolin could distract a vendor while he stole some food, and, come on, Bolin was much more appealing and innocent looking than him.

He told himself that no one would know, that no one would miss two ash bananas missing from the stand and a couple of misplaced yuans.

A voice whispered that the ends justified the means.

He closed his eyes.

They weren't _criminals,_ they were _desperate._

_Mako, Bolin, boys, come out here, please! Did one of you take some of the fruit tarts before dinner? You know I don't like you to spoil your appetite! Now tell Momma who did it!_

His belly was so, so empty...

_Mako, baby, I love you so much, baby. Please, sweetie, you have to protect your little brother, no matter what..."_

He opened his eyes.

For Bolin.

He bent down and looked Bolin in the eyes, trying not to show his fear.

"Bo..." he made himself smile, "Remember the plan?"

Bolin nodded, "B-but...what about-"

"Hey," Mako tried to sound sure, rubbing a hand over his little brother's sweaty forehead, "It's gonna be fine, would I ever lie to you?"

The younger boy shook his head, "N-no."

"No. Never." he stated, "So sometimes, we gotta do things we don't like, even if we're scared, so we can get food and stuff, okay? It's part of being a big boy."

"Like Momma told me to be?" Bolin asked timidly. "For Momma?"

Mako swallowed and looked away,

_"Be a good boy, Bolin,_ _okay, sweetie? Just go to the_ _park and we'll come get you as in a little bit_..." images of his mother telling Bolin to be a good boy and run, that they would be _fine,_ filling his mind. He remembered the way Bolin looked just before he ran away, still believing that he would see their parents again. He remembered how he himself had stayed despite his father telling him to go with his brother. Just how his mother and father had looked and smelt as they _burned._..

He shook his head and looked back at Bolin, eyes wide and desperate.

"Yeah," Mako whispered, "For Momma. And Daddy."

"Okay, Mako."

_Okay._

_This is 'okay',_ he told himself,_ as long as I make Bolin believe it is...then I can believe it, too..._

_"_Okay, Bo."

"Okay." a little giggle. "You're copying me."

Mako smiled, relived, and he breathed again, "Silly me!" he played, "I know what we're gonna do, Bo!"

"What?" Bolin exclaimed, excited.

"Think of this as...as an _adventure!_"

"An ad-ad..." Bolin tried the words in his mouth, testing them,"adfinchhuuurr?"

"'_Ad-ven-ture.'_" Mako corrected, making sure to quiz Bolin on how many words he knew later.

"_Adfinchure_!" Bolin squealed, beaming.

"Close enough." He ruffled Bolin's mop of tangled curls. "Just remember what I told you, and you'll get a prize!"

"A _prize!?_ OOOH!" Bolin bounced on the balls of his feet, "What kindda prize, huh? Tell, tell, tell, Mako!"

"I can't tell you till we go on the adventure, silly!"

Bolin pouted, "Okay, let's go _now_!"

"Okay." he said and his dirty fingers absent-mindedly wove themselves into the red scarf.

He didn't know which was worse; that he was telling Bolin that stealing and scamming people was okay, or that his little brother instantly believed everything he said and was so _excited_ about it.

Something in his gut twisted and he felt sick.

_Okay._

But this was _okay._ It really was. Because Bolin was smiling about it. So it had to be _okay_ to do this.

It just had to be.

* * *

This was _not okay._

The plan had been going _perfectly._

All Bolin had to do was talk to the lady and distract her with all the cuteness he could muster while looking like a big, oily, dirty, smelly mess of way-too long tangly hair and ragged clothes, while Mako took some yuans from her (grossly huge) stack and stole too ash bananas.

It should have been so easy.

But it was not _okay._

He found it surprisingly easy to slip his fingers around the fold of yuans behind the lady's back, his brother yapping all the while; he was like a Spirit, unseen, slipping the papers in his pockets so delicately, holding his breath as to not crinkle them and make a sound.

"So what did you say your name was again, sweetie?" The woman asked Bolin.

"Ming." was Bolin's instant replay.

Mako smiled proudly; one rule of the streets that they both learned very quickly, was never give your real name. And lie. If anyone ever asked about you or your family, or why you seemed to be all alone for a little boy your age, you made up a story; it didn't have to be a good one, just lie and get out of there before they have time to call the police and whisk you off to the orphanage.

"Well, Ming, what brings a little cutie like you to the Komodo- Dragon District?"

Mako listened on as he patted his pockets, and tip-toed to the pile of Ash Bananas; fingers poised and heart pumping, painfully aware of the particular _amber_ color of all the eyes that found home in this district.

"We're visiting family." Bolin's voice was sweet and innocent.

Mako's heart sped up, plunking the first banana with faster fingers; that question was too close to breaking the rule.

"Huh." The woman observed with curiosity, "Funny, you don't look an ouch of Fire Nation, Ming." the woman's sincerity was clear in her voice, but that didn't cause flames not to flicker from Mako's tongue, anger spiking.

"Well, I _am!_" Bolin shrieked, stamping his foot, "Mommy was Fire Nation!"

Mako froze. He knew what people thought about people intermarrying with Fire Nation, and having mixed children.

It was bad enough that Fire Nation and Firebenders were still hated and feared and outcasted seventy years later; worse jobs available, and even worser opinions directed towered them, even in a city that was supposed to be a refuge for mixing families. But children who were half Fire Nation, but didn't look it, especially when they were a different type of bender, were thought to be _crazy _and_ cursed. _Crazy, because they had the curse of the evil fire running through their blood, but couldn't control it because they were different benders. Pure Fire Nation families even excluded them.

"_Surfer-suckers_" they were called, a very disrespectful name.

And he would be damned if his brother was ever called that, so help the person who dared to call Bolin that word.

"She was?" the lady asked, voice now laced with fake- sympathy for a little crazy sulfer-sucker, "What happened to her?"

"She..." and Mako could tell in the pitch of Bolin's voice that he was going to cry.

Mako held his breath and delicately plucked the second Ash Banana from the pile, biting his tongue to keep from burning them from his rapidly growing anger.

Just then, from the corner of his eyes, Mako saw the lady whispering to a man, vaguely gesturing to Bolin.

His breath tightened in his throat as he tried to give Bolin the sign that it was time to go, and silently, making his way out of the stand.

He was almost out of the stand and by Bolin when the gravely whispers of the man and woman made his ears bleed. He was not very well educated with words, but he could distinctly make out, "_Homeless...Sulfur-sucker...Orphanage..."_

Mako finally made it to Bolin and tugged on his shoulder to move, pushing him in the back. But then, the bananas fell from his sweaty grip to the dirty ground.

"Mako, the bananas!" Bolin cried.

When Mako bent down to pick them up, the yuans spilling out from his pockets like water.

Hearts nearly having attacks, the boys frantically tried to stuff the remaining money in their pockets; panicking fingers crinkling the paper, sweaty hands staining ink.

"_No...No..No_..." Mako moaned, glancing around.

Just then, the woman's attention turned back to them, "Ming, dear, would you come over here? We'd like to talk to you for a minute."

"The orphanage would be the best place for him..." the man said, wiping his brow.

Both boys froze in panic, and everything happened at once.

The woman saw them with her money and yelled out, _"Hey, what are you two doing?! _Stop, thiefs! Someone help, those _street rats_ are stealing my money! Officer!"

A sea of faces all turned to them simultaneously.

"M-mako..." Bolin stammered out, fingers gripping his arm.

"Run! Fallow me!" he ordered, in a panic.

"But the bananas! They're all smushed!" Bolin exclaimed.

Mako spun around, eyes wide, when he heard the familiar ominous sound of metal armor and cables; a trio of cops running right towered them.

"Forget about the bananas!" He yelled, "RUN!"

With all his might, Mako grabbed Bolin's hand and ran as fast as he could across the street.

"Stop you two! Get back here," the booming Metalbender's yelled.

Breaths panting, and nearly pulling Bolin's arm out of its socket; he ran faster and faster, he ran, ran, _ran_, pulling Bolin along side him, until they were down, down, the alleyways, back in their own world, past the divide.

"I think we lost 'em." Mako panted, hugging Bolin against the grimy wall, "It's okay, Bo... It's okay..."

But Bolin was still shaking with fear, "M-mako...I-I-I don't wanna do that again!"

"You won't, I promise." Mako hugged him against his chest. " I promise."

And he did, for years to come, untill Bolin was older, Mako stole food by himself. Granted, he had gotten beaten up and arrested a couple of times, but anything was better than Bolin getting hurt and sent away.

"Mako..." Bolin whispered and looked up at him.

"Hmm? You okay? Are you hurt?"

Bolin shook his head, "What's a...a '_sulfer-sucker_? Why did the woman call me that?"

And Mako couldn't tell him; when Bolin looked at him with those big innocent, green eyes...he_ couldn't. _Bolin was just a little kid, he was only six.

He thought of what Pappa would have said.

"You'll understand when you're older." Mako stated, feeling so much older than eight.

"I'm sorry I messed up everything, and made the lady mad at me, Mako." Bolin started to cry, "It's my fault! I-"

"Hey." Mako cooed, hugging him tighter, "You did perfect, silly. You did everything _fine._ Nothing was your fault."

"Really? Then why was the lady mad at me?"

"'Cause she's a jerk." Mako replied, eyes hard, "Nevermind, just forget about her. You did great, Bolin," Mako exclaimed, "I'm proud of you!"

"Really?"

_"Really."_

"...Okay."

Both were silent for a few seconds.

"At least we saved some money, though...right?" Bolin whispered

Mako fearfully stuffed his hands in his pockets and pulled out the remaining crumpled up yuans.

Mako coutned...and counted again just to make sure. Yes, he could count this number, he had learnt this number...

Ten...eleven...twelve...thirteen...fourteen...

_Fifteen._

Out of the huge pile he had managed to meticulously snatch, they had only ended up with fifteen yuans in the end.

The loss was short lived, though.

Mako smiled like a mad man.

"How much we got?" Bolin asked

_"Bolin..."_

"What?" Bolin panicked, "Did we lose lots?! Oh, no!"

Mako shook his head in shock_, "We're rich, Bo." _he whispered with awe, laughing with wonder.

"We...we are?"

"We are! We have_ fifteen_ yuans! Do you know what this means? We can have not only one meal for a week, but _two!_"

Bolin blinked in amazement, "_Tw_o _meals a day for a whole week!_? We _are_ rich!" Bolin laughed.

For the first time in the eight hellish mouths since their parents were killed, the tears running down Mako's face were from pure joy.

He doesn't know how, but he remembers his father crying the day Bolin was born.

_"Dadda, why are you sad?" The almost three-year- old Mako asked, and he remembers just how his father's voice had sounded when he replied:_

_"Daddy is happy, Mako. Daddy has happy tears."_

_"Happy tears?"_

_"Yes, sweetie. Remember Mommy and I said you were getting a baby brother or sister?"_

"Mako, why are you crying? Are you okay?"

"I'm better than okay, Bo." he swallows, "I'm so happy. These are happy tears."

"Happy tears?" Bolin's brows furrow.

"Yeah, Bo. _Happy."_ he buries his head in the scarf, _"Thank you, Iloveyou." _he whispers into it. _"Iloveyou.._."

"Mako," Bolin puts his head in Mako's lap, "Can we get my favorite dumplings, since we're rich for a week? Can the dumplings be the prize?"

Mako's laughs despite himself, wiping away his tears, "Yeah, Bo, that can be your prize."

_B__e_cause you're already mine, he thinks, _you're already mine._


	9. Chapter 9-Apple of my Eye

_Mako, ten; Bolin, eight._

* * *

The calloused soles of Mako's feet slapped against the pavement with a force that would make any Earthbender proud; the Triple Threat Triad's Head Quarters coming into view through the grey fog, and he let his breath exhale from his chest, warming his pinched cheeks.

He didn't bother to slow down as he bounded up rickety, burnt steps and wrapped his scarred knuckles on the door, making sure his slips were still tucked in his pocket.

A gravely voice sounded from the other side, its user not bothering to use the window,_ "Password."_

"Shin, it's _me_."

"'_Me'_ could be any of you brats. Spirits, you little runts think I can remember you by your voices." the voice drawled out, and Mako rolled his eyes, "So, _'Me,_' what makes you so special?"

Mako didn't have time for this. He could tell that Shin was probably drunk, because he was the one who had given Mako the orders to go on the runs tonight and his voice sounded slurred. It had been dark for two hours now and Bolin was probably freaking out, and he was growing aggravated, "It's Mako. You want the numbers r' not, Shin? 'Cause I could just give 'em to Zolt instead..."

"Zolt ain't here, kid. The Big Man's getting some fresh meat."

Mako winced, knowing exactly what the gangster meant by "fresh meat" As in, _not_ the kind you'd want to eat.

Mako pounded on the door, "Just let me in!"

"Alright, alright! Sheesh! Keep your scarf on!"

He listened for a moment as movement on the other side unhooked the bolt and the door swung open, Shin standing their with a lop-sided grin, and sounds of fighting and drunk laughter, and ash filling the room.

"C'mon in, kid." Shin put a bony hand on Mako's shoulder, "Time for pay-day."

Mako shrugged the hand off, gaining a raised eyebrow from the man.

"You a tough guy, ain't 'cha, huh, Sparky? Think you can't show any compassion with your fellow Triad members? We're all family here." Shin's teeth shone yellow from tobacco when he smiled.

Mako hardened his eyes at his nickname._ "Sparky" _had been given to him since last year when he had mastered Lightning Bending; the youngest Firebender ever to master it, apparently. He wasn't proud of it, but if it kept he and Bolin alive, then it was worth the shocks he gave himself.

"You're _not_ my family." he dead-panned.

Shin shrugged, "That view will change in time." he smirked devilishly as he delicately plucked a cigarette pack from his pocket, tapping the sticks into a row in his hand.

Mako scowled and tapped his foot on the floor, glancing at the clock.

Shin dangled a cigarette from his lips, and held one up to Mako, specks of black floating off the end.

Mako shook his head, and Shin chuckled. "This view will also change in time. Firebenders usually start early, with being their own natural lighter and all. Started when I was your age, and you're-what, now? Eleven?"

"Ten." he said,"Look, Shin. I'm kinda in a hurry, so could you move it along and give me my money?"

"Patients, young one." Shin waged a disapproving finger at him, "Good things come to those who wait."

Mako wanted to punch him. He had been waiting all month for his pay, and the weather was only growing colder.

Shin took his cigarette in his two fingers, and held the end to Mako's hand, eyes glistening.

"Light."

Mako glared at him, but did as he was told, and lit the ashy butt ablaze. He watched with hard eyes as Shin dramatically took the cigarette from his mouth and blew out with a smokey sigh, wiping hot, white smoke in Mako's face, stinging his eyes.

"Now, where were we? Oh, _yes_, your pay..."

Mako followed Shin to behind his desk, walking impatiently behind him, nearly stepping on the end of Shin's coattails with dirty feet that would be frozen in a second flat if they ever dared to defile the expensive coat. His amber eyes widened, catching a glimpse of the odd sight of a newspaper on the clustered desk amongst the piles of empty beer bottles, numbered sheets scrawled with names he didn't know and some he did, and old dumpling containers. _Bolin's favorite_, his mind reminded him, and his heart yearned to see his baby brother after a horribly long day that started at the crack of dawn.

Mako was very bad with words, and his hand usually shook with messy ink when he tried painstakingly to write down the characters of his name; words on papers and signs blurring together in a gibberish of sounds his lips could not copy and the meaning lost when his ten-year-old mind tried to process them.

But there were some words you just_ had_ to know.

Like that "A" word...he knew that word from somewhere...

He poked and probed the contents of his broken mind, willed it to remember the days before they lost everything, when his weekdays were filled with learning and counting and bright-eyed, smiling teachers, receiving shiny apples from good students. How _normal_ kids lived.

Agni, he _knew_ what the word was, he just didn't know how to say it!

_A...Avi..._.

_Ava...something..._

That word was printed in big, bright symbols on the front cover, above a grey picture of a pudgy girl standing outside a hut, which Mako could only guess to be the South Pole, with a coffee stain smudging the right corner of an igloo. He vaguely remembered his father never really liking people from the South Pole, and had said they always smelt like seal-blubber and wore dead animals on them.

Mako glared back at the girl in the picture and wondered what made her so damn special to be on the cover of a newspaper. She looked like she thought she knew everything, too. Challenging the world with his fist extended with what looked to be water hovering around it, and her bottom lip jutting out in a pout that said she got what she wanted.

Big deal, so she was _another_ Waterbender. Psh, did the kid think she was a prodigy or something? He'd like to see her slave over Lightningbending and shocking herself till she got it just right, just to feed herself another crappy, barely edible meal.

Mako wondered with an envious stare if she had a little brother or sister to look after, but her fearless eyes told him she _didn't._

Something fluttered inside him, and for a moment, the envious hatred directed at this girl vanished, and was replaced with butterflies in his hungry tummy. He studied the girl's face and tried to imagine she looking like her mother, or if she had her father's hair, and nobody giving her a hard time about who she took after because she wasn't considered a filthy half-breed like they were. And, though they were faded and gray though the newspaper, a world away, he thought her eyes were very _pretty_ eyes...

The rubbing of wood from the drawer closing caught his attention again.

"Here, pipsqueak," Shin said, licking the tip of his finger idly and flipping out bills into Mako's hand, the paper rubbing against his leather gloves, and Mako was hopeful again.

Mako took the bills and counted them himself silently, just to make sure, ignoring Shin's eye roll, "You really don't trust me, do ya, runt? I was the one who gave ya this job in first place! You should on your knees, kissing my feet, thanking me that that snot of a brother of yours didn't freeze to death last year! But _noooooo,_ all I get is '_Shin, I'm too busy!'_ Kids these days, no gratitude at all..." he mumbled on and blew another puff of smoke, fogging the newspaper for a second.

Mako swatted the smoke away with his hand and looked at the girl once more, willing his mind to make sense of the "A" word.

Giving in, he asked, "Hey, Shin, what's with the girl in the picture? Why's every one going crazy about her?"

The gangster gave a wheezy laugh, and hooted, as if that were the funniest thing he had ever heard, "By _Agni,_ you can't read shit can you? Are you dumb, boy? You really don't know what _that_ "he placed an ash-tipped finger on the bright heading, leaving behind a streak, "word is?"

Mako self-consciously shook his head; he really didn't care what most people thought of him most of the time, but the fact that he could barely read at all...well, it made him feel really _stupid_, and stupidity was something you could not afford on the streets.

Shin sighed. "I can see I'm gonna have to go slow with ya. That girl, " he pointed to the young Waterbender in the picture," is the-_wait for it_- the 'A-va-tar'" He wiggled his fingers in false amusement.

Mako's eyebrows furrowed, "The...the _A-va-tar_? Y-you mean," Mako tried to think back for a moment, "like that _Airbender_ the old people talk about used to be?"

_"Like that Airbender the old people talk about used to be?"_ Shin mocked, and Mako could feel his fingers heating up. "Yes, that's what happens when one Avatar dies! A new one is reborn, and the Cycle continues and all the spiritually crap." he yaped, "This one's named "_Korra,_" he snorted, "Supposed to be some nine-year old prodigy or something that just mastered Waterbending or whatever; I could care less." then giving Mako a look, "Don't look so confused, boy! What did your parents teach you, kid? That people are born from rocks? Your brother probably was, 'cause all he does is play in the dirt!"

That was it. Despite himself, Mako heated the end of Shin's sleeve on fire, watching with a smile as the Triad man's eyes went wide, cigarette falling from his mouth, curses flying as he tried to beat the flame out before realizing he could use Waterbending.

"Wow," Mako shot back, in a slow, condescending voice, "that took you a full ten seconds of freaking out and yelling like a little girl to realize that _water_ puts out _fire_! Good job, Shin! You're a Waterbending prodigy! Your parents must be so proud!"

Shin stuttered and blinked for a moment, before scowling, "Just get _outta here_, you little shit, before I take back your damn money and make you pay for a new coat!"

Without another word, Mako turned on his heels, and sprinted out of the Head Quarters; thoughts of the Avatar Cycle and a stuck up Water Tribe girl flooding his mind as he made his way to the ally where Bolin was waiting.

* * *

Through the dark, Mako spotted his brother against the alley wall, fingers dragging designs in the dirt, humming to himself a half-forgotten tune that made Mako's eyes misty with flashes of sweet amber eyes and fluffy pillows.

"Hey, buddy! I'm back!" he called as he sat down beside Bolin, dust spreading out. "What'cha doin'?"

Bolin's head snapped up, hallow eyes glistening at once, signs of hunger fading when he met Mako's smiling face.

"_Mako_!" he squealed, and crushed himself against his brother, burying his head in the scarf, "I missed you!"

"I missed ya, too, Bo! Sorry I'm back late." Mako ruffled Bolin's hair and pulled the dangling strands back into a matted pony tail, "I know you're afraid of the dark."

" 's okay!" his missing tooth shone in his smile, and Mako wondered how he still could be this happy after two years, "You're back now, and look!" he pointed to the lines in the dirt, "_Look, look!"_

"I see!" Mako kneeled down, "It's pretty!" he exclaimed, hoping that was the right answer.

"Thanks! See, this is me- see my curl?" Bolin pointed, and his dirty fingers grabbed Mako's wrist and extended his hand over the other figure to the right, "And this is _you_! I made your scarf on you neck to keep you warm like you do for me!"

Mako looked at the lines in the dirt, actually seeing very clearly what his brother was trying to explain; the lines and shapes coming together quite nicely, and Mako imagined Bolin as an Earthbender in later years-if they lived long enough.

"Wow, buddy, that's amazing! You're really good at drawing!" Mako exclaimed, but his face fell when he saw Bolin's pouting face. "And you made us hold hands, too! You're really good at this stuff! It's perfect!

"No, it's _not_." Bolin's little voice said, eyes sad and downcast, lips visibly trembling.

"Yes, it is! Why d'ya say that?" Mako studied Bolin's face.

Bolin shook his head and looked at the ground, "'Cause...'Cause I don't 'member how to draw Mommy and Daddy."

Mako felt something burn in his throat and he looked away. Biting back his tongue for a moment, and willing all haunting thoughts away, he turned around and patted his little brother's head, "Don't worry, Bo, it'll come to ya!" Bolin looked doubtful and like he was going to protest, so before he could open his mouth, Mako stuck an apple in his face that he had found this morning.

"Here ya go, Bo! Look, I found two apples today! Eat up!"

Bolin pouted, but took the apple with weary eyes, "What if there's yucky worms in it like last time and you get sick again, Mako?"

Mako sighed, "Don't worry, I looked at them before. They're safe."

"B-but what about-"

"_Bolin."_ Mako used the tone that meant for Bolin to stop worrying and do what he was told, "You didn't eat anything today. You know I won't eat unless you do. So _eat. _I promise you it's okay."

"But-but-but what if we grow _seeds_ inside us!?"

"Seeds?" Mako blinked, "That's crazy! Who told you that?"

"Jin." Bolin mumbled, "I don't think he likes me very much. He called me a baby yesterday just 'cause he's eleven and I'm eight and tiny, and then he tripped me with his Earthbending!"

"He did?" Mako felt his anger heating up.

"All I wanted to do was play...I was being good! I promise!"

"Don't go near him anymore. I'm gonna have a word with him." Mako ordered.

"No, Mako! He's scary, don't!" Bolin gripped Mako's arm in fright, fingers digging in.

"He doesn't scare me, 'sides, I can take 'em!" Mako insisted, flexing his muscles and watching Bolin giggle.

A few seconds passed, and Bolin nuzzled closer to him.

"Mako?" Bolin whispered.

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"...Am I stupid?"

Mako's eyes went wide, and he stared incredulously at his little brother, "Bolin...what, _no_! No, of course not! Why would you think that? Did I-

"-'Cause-'cause Jin said I w-was 'cause I'm a _non-bender_, and-and then he tripped me." Bolin cried, eyes getting misty.

"That's it." Mako growled, "I am _so_ dealing with this guy tomorrow!"

"B-but, Mako? Do you think I'll be a Firebender like you? What if I can't bend anything?" The green-eyed boy's voice rose to a fast, frantic, panic, "You were my age when you first bent, and I'm gonna be nine soon, and you're gonna be eleven, and what if I can't never ever _ever_ bend and-"

"Bo...Shhh...Shhhh, calm down..." Mako rubbed Bolin's forehead again and again, soothing, calming him down. "It's okay..."

"But-"

"No 'buts.' If anything, I gotta feeling you're gonna be an Earthbender!" Mako locked his eyes with Bolin's, "Know why I know?"

"'Cause big brothers know everything?" he questioned.

Mako felt his stomach twist, "Well, _that._" he smiled, "But mostly 'cause you love flowers and rocks and playing in the dirt and stuff! I mean, your drawing is amazing and you did that with just your fingers! But you also take after Daddy, and he was from the Earth Kingdom, so you're probably like him!"

"Like Daddy? But Daddy couldn't bend." Bolin said thoughtfully.

Mako thought back for a moment on how to respond, then tried out the words in his mouth, hoping they sounded sincere, "Just you wait, Bo! Good things come to those who wait! I promise you'll be an Earthbender some day!" Mako exclaimed, "An-and one day, we'll be the coolest brothers ever! ...The..."he shot for a random name, "'The Bending Brothers!' Just you and me, and no one would ever mess with us!"

Mako really didn't believe this, and didn't know if Bolin would be a bender or not, but if he could keep Bolin smiling and hoping, then maybe he'd be able to as well.

Bolin looked at Mako's face, confused,"...The 'Bending Brothers'?"

Mako shrugged, "It sounds like a cool name to me."

Bolin wiped his nose on his sleeve, "You mean like...Pro-bending? Sounds kinda scary!"

"Uh, uh!" Mako shook his head, "Yeah, Bo." he whispered quietly, "Wouldn't that be cool? One day when we're big, we could be in Pro-bending?"

"When we're big boys!" Bolin giggled, "But, Mako, you're already a big boy!"

That made Mako laugh, "Yeah, I am! And don't you forget it," he rubbed his knuckles in Bolin's hair, which made me giggle more, "Now, eat!" He pointed to the apple.

"Okay." Bolin said, and bit into the juicy flesh with a _crunch,_ juice running down his chin.

"See?" Mako chewed his with him, "Yummy, huh?"

"Uh, huh!" Bolin mumbled through a full mouth, "Thank's, Mako! I love you!"

"I love you, too, Bo!"

Mako smiled and wiped the juice from Bolin's chin.

"Mako?"

"Chew and swallow first." he instructed.

Bolin let out a huge gulp, "Mako?"

"Yes?"

"Who's this Waterbending girl ev'ry one keeps talkin' 'bout? I see lots of pictures of her all over! They say her name is Ka..._Kor._..._K-Ko._.."

_"This one's named _'Korra,_'" he snorted, "Supposed to be some nine-year old prodigy or something that just mastered Waterbending or whatever; I could care less."_

_"Korra." _The name left an odd taste in Mako's mouth.

"Yeah, that's her name!"

_The A-va-tar._

_The Avatar._

But despite her pretty eyes, Mako didn't really care who she was, Avatar or not. It's wasn't like she was some special hero like Aang was who helped build this city.

It wasn't like she was some savior who was going to come save them and bring their parents back.

No, they were on their own. And Mako knew they always would be.

So he glared at the ground and mumbled, "It doesn't matter who she is, people just like her because they think she's amazing for whatever reason. But she's just a girl, and girls are gross and have cooties.

Bolin swallowed another bit of apple, "But you said that Shin's a girl and gross, too. Does that mean he's got cooties, too?'

Mako chuckled and kissed his little brother's cheek, who happily accepted the love, "Yeah, Bo, he's got 'em, too."

Bolin made a face, and nearly spit up his apple, "EWWWWWW!"

* * *

_Hey, everyone! Thank's for r_e_ading! Please review! :)_


	10. Chapter 10-For the Bestest Brother

_Mako, twelve; Bolin, ten._

* * *

Mako tapped his foot impatiently and dared another glance outside the alleyway; biting back a scowl, and hurling fireballs at the ground to pass away the quiet darkness that threatened to consume him every second that he didn't see his little brother approaching up the street.

By Agni, if he could tell time-which he sure as Spirits couldn't- it would say something like_ half-past forever_ since the time he told Bolin-not once, but _twice-_ to be here.

For a moment, a pang of guilt and pity twisted his gut so immensely, that he felt if he had any food at all in it, it would have come back up, unforgiving and punishing.

He imagined himself as the little brother, their roles reversed, waiting endless hours, day after day, for Bolin to come back from wherever he was; himself waiting in an ally with a pleading tummy, forbidden to leave these dark, grimy walls with nothing but a, _but, Bolin, I'm a big boy, now! I can come with you!, _as his only attempt of freedom.

The pleading requests with his own name intertwined in the begging, Bolin's pouting face and watery eyes every time he told him to stay put only growing more and more-sometimes to the point of arguments and grumbles and glares and full-out silent treatments from Bolin for periods of time upon he returning from work-numbed him to the core and threatened to freeze the fire within him.

Isn't this what he had forced Bolin to do, every single day, with nothing but a promise that he would be back, regardless of the cuts and bruises he returned with, and sometimes nothing to eat to justify the means?

_It's your turn to be the little brother,_ he told himself, _it's your turn to wait._

He made himself turn his gaze away from the opening in the alley that showed him the outside world, and forced himself to stay put.

He needed to calm down and control his breathing. Bolin would be_ fine._

He would be _okay._

This was _okay._

Bolin was ten now, he was a big boy, he muttered to himself, as panic started to set in.

Bolin was the same age now as when he got mixed in with the Triads, and if he could handle running numbers, so could Bolin.

But that's not all the Traids were.

How could he have let Bolin get mixed up with them?!

How, how, _how_, could he have been so stupid and so _selfish_ to let Bolin work for these horrible people, if only to get a few extra yuans a day, at the cost of his brother's innocence?

Thoughts of Bolin getting beaten up and used by gang members; smoking cigarettes and other ugly drugs offered by Shin and Zolt untill the younger boy was nothing more than a wisp of smoke that he could bend; Bolin doing crimes and getting slammed in a cell; being dragged off to a damned Orphanage, forever separated like so many siblings he had witnessed; Bolin enjoying it all, the life of crime and violence stripping away all the innocence Mako had tried so damn hard to preserve for the five years since they saw their parents' bodies, molding his brother into a monster with beady green eyes and an ominous laugh and-

His mother's dying promise to keep his little brother safe, whispered past his ears, yet the more recent promise heated his heart.

"_Mako, I'm _ten_ now! I can do big boy stuff! I can help! Promise me you'll let me run numbers by myself, okay? Promise?"_

_It took all of his strength, but finally he gave in, "...Okay. Promise."_

_"Really?! Thank's Mako! You're the bestest! I'll show you I can do it! I'll be fine, don't you worry!"_

_"Okay...just be back here by nine, okay?"_

_"Nine! Got'cha! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"_

_"You're welcome, bud. Be careful, okay?"_

_"Okay, Mako, bye!"_

_"Bye, little brother..."_

_This is 'okay',_ he told himself, as he watched Bolin leave the alleyway with a new-found confidence, and disappear behind the bend, _as long as I make Bolin believe it is...then I can believe it, too..._

That seemed to be the only truth he could live by, what he always seemed to repeat in his head like a metre when he doubted himself or was scared; because if his innocent, pure little brother could believe and still smile, then it was going to be okay.

Bolin never knew how much he kept him grounded, how he stabled him when he felt as if his fire was going to burn him from the inside out. There his little brother was, holding his hand, a little smile on his face and a smudge of dirt on his cheek, connecting him to the ground, keeping him not only living, but _alive._

The difference in-between was enormous, when you walked along the border of _half-alive_.

Living half-alive would just have to do as long as Bolin hugged him every time he came back and still giggled at things Mako knew too much about to believe in anymore or had forgotten how to feel.

_"Okay." _he said to himself, and his dirty fingers absent-mindedly wove themselves into the red scarf, like a dozen times before.

Something in his gut twisted and he felt sick.

Or, more so, a memory of being sick.

_Okay._

But this was _okay._ It really was. Because Bolin had been smiling about it and it made him happy, when some rare days he would come back to the alley and find his brother like a shell, like a zombie, molding into the color of the wall. Those were the days he feared the most.

So it had to be _okay_ to do this. It had to be _okay_ to let Bolin run numbers for the Traid, because that was all Mako would ever allow him to do.

It just had to be.

He sunk down against the wall of the alley and prayed to any Spirits he still believed in.

_It's your turn to wait._

* * *

Being ten now meant a lot of things to Bolin; like being a big boy, and Mako finally letting him do work by himself.

It meant a freedom to show Mako he could be proud of him, and with his new-found Earthbending abilities manifesting, he wasn't just some little non-bender that bigger boys could pick on anymore.

Like Jin.

He had tripped Jin with his _own_ Earthbending- just like the big meany had done to him countless times in the past-for trying to steal their food last week.

He had tripped him and sent a rock to his stomach and called him _stupid_-even though Mommy had always said that was a bad word- like Jin had said to him over and over again.

By the time Mako had regained conscienceness from Jin's rock-slamming, Bolin had managed to make Jin run away like a baby and retrieve their money.

And best of all, he had done it all without Mako's help! Like a big boy! Mako had smiled and hugged him and said he was proud!

He was very much enjoying being ten and an Earthbender.

And with all the number running he was now allowed to do, it gave him the freedom to roam around the city and get Mako a birthday present!

Mako was _thirteen_ today, whether he wanted to acknowledge it or not, his older brother was two and a half years older than him, and Bolin was going to get Mako his first birthday present since...

Since Mommy and Daddy.

Mako _deserved_ it, because he was the bestest big brother ever, so Bolin just had to get him _something!_

It didn't matter to him that he had not ever gotten a birthday present since Momma and Pappa; as long a Mako was happy, then so was he!

And Mako was going to be so happy with what he was going to get, Bolin thought, as he gazed up at the store through the tinted glass, dirty fingers smudging the surface, that he would never be sad again.

It was only the first few runs he had been going on, and he was young, so he didn't get much money to start off with...

Besides, Mako did it all the time, Mako _stole_ all the time, didn't he?

So it was _okay._

This had to be _okay._ Mako would tell him if it wasn't okay, right?

How many times had he stood by a vendor or a store clerk and distracted them while Mako slipped inside and expertly plucked whatever they needed without being seen?

How many times had they tricked people with little games and 'won' with thier teamwork?

Mako always said it was _okay._ Mako always said, no matter how many times he had felt like a bad boy, that they _'had to',_ and that it was '_okay'_ and that still were _'good, good, boys'_?

Bolin sighed and folded out his crumbled up bills from his pocket, trying to count them and not drop any.

He couldn't count very well, only up to 'twenty', and he supposed he could always use his money to get Mako something else for his birthday... But he would much rather use the money for food while he had it, and besides, what Bolin wanted to get Mako was more than twenty yuans anyway, he was sure.

He stared at the yuans in his trembling hands, and considered.

It was getting dark and people never gave him the time of day anyway, walking past him as he were invisible, or throughing disgusted glances at him that sometimes mixed with pity.

Mako didn't have to know how he'd gotten the gift anyway, and he was going to be so happy, he wouldn't care!

Right?

But he _had_ to, he just had to get Mako the lovely gift his eyes locked upon in the store; the softness and clean fuzz, the warmth...

Mako deserved it.

He closed his fist, and violently stuffed the yuans back in his pockets with a determination.

_This is okay_, he tells himself, as he begins to open the shop door, _as long as Mako believes it is when he tells me, then I can believe it, too..._

It was _okay._

It just has to be.

Mako would never lie to him.

Sure, they had gotten caught sometimes, but they always managed to get away.

Besides, he was ten now, a big boy! He was an Earthbender, and he could be sneaky, sneaky and quiet...

He moves expertly past the veils of skirts and long legs roaming about the store, and imagines Mako's soon-to-be-smile.

Once a foot away from his target, he hides amongst the rack of robes, gift in sight. No one likes these robes, apparently, and he gives one last look around like Mako tells him to, before he brings his foot down hard on the ground, causing a little tremor. He watches with flicking eyes, barely containing his giggles as the table Mako's gift is on shakes and the prize falls to the ground.

He is invisible he knows, as everyone around him is preoccupied with their own lives and buying and looking at the pretty things in the store.

All he can think about is Mako's smile.

He doesn't feel like a bad boy at all, anymore.

Because he knows Mako's smile makes it _okay._

He concentrates, breathes in, and curls is fingers to him with a bend of his elbow. Slowly but surely, the ground moves like a little wave under the gift, all the way towered him.

He's grinning so much he face hurts and almost yells out in happiness before remembering he must be _quiet_.

With fingers as delicate as Mako's, he plucks the gift and stuffs the bottom under the cuff of his pants, the fabric of his shirt hiding it.

He looks right.

Then left.

He is invisible, he is a piece of dirt rolling in the wind.

He is alive, but not living, as life goes on around him, refusing to accept him. For no one notices as he slips past the sea of people, leaving behind a little trail of mud, and quietly closing the door behind him.

Too easy.

But it was _okay._

It was worth it.

Even the pitch darkness outside doesn't scare him like it usually does, and cannot take away his happiness.

"I did it because I'm a big boy." he whispers to himself and pats his shirt to make the gift's secure in its hiding place, "I did it, Mommy. I did it for Mako."

And he begins his journey back to the alley, the street lights glowing and laughter fading behind him as people start mingling out for a night on the town.

The little boy that he is, going unnoticed by all.

As he walks back to Mako, he asks himself, _is this what it means to be a big brother?_

* * *

Mako, mumbling at bit, opens his eyes, followed by mentally cursing himself for having fallen alseep- Dear Agni, how damn late was it, where in La's name was his bother- when he hears the unmistakable sounds of footsteps approaching.

He lights his palm as he dares to glance outside the bend of the alley. Squinting his eyes, agusting to the silhouette approaching; the big greens eyes he would know anywhere and that voice full of love.

"MAKO! Mako, I'm back, guess what I got'cha! Guessguessguess!"

Mako pulls Bolin inside the alley, instantly shushing him and meeting his eyes with a grim, annoyed face.

"Where the heck were you!? You had me worried sick, Bolin!" he yells as he hugs him, then grips his shoulder and demands, "You think just because you're ten now and have a job you can just go run off!? What time is it anyway, huh? What time did I say to be back here?"

Bolin's face falls, "You said nine, but-"

"- I said nine!" he yells over Bolin's voice. But Bolin doesn't take it personally because he knows Mako yells when he's the most worried, "And it must be close to eleven by now! I was just going to go out looking for you! Where have you-"

"I'll tell ya, if ya stop yellin'!" Bolin's voice raises and Mako blinks and shuts his mouth.

"I know I'm late, I'm sorry." Bolin says quietly. "I didn't mean t'scare ya. But I did it for you."

"For me...?" Mako asks, "What do you mean?"

"You may not think your birthday is important, and I may not even remember when mine is..." Bolin looks right into Mako's amber eyes, "but you're thirteen today, two and a half years older than me. The bestest big brother deserves the bestest present in the world!"

"I-I...you remembered...? I...you think I'm the best brother in the world?" Mako says quietly, and Bolin can see his eyes flickering.

"I don't _think,_ I _know,_ silly!" Bolin yells with a huge smile and hugs his brother again.

The younger boy steps back and says, "Close your eyes!"

"B-but, I-"

"_Hush,_ I said close 'em! An' hold out your hands!"

"Okay."

"No peeking, promise?"

"Promise." Mako says, feeling his eyes sting.

Bolin pulls up his shirt, releasing the gift. He quickly breaks the binding with his hands, and gently places Mako's present in his hands.

Curling Mako's fingers on top of the gift, he whispers, "Ready?"

_"Ready."_

_"Open."_

And what awaits Mako's stinging eyes, are but two, white, huge, fuzzy, _Spirit-beautiful, socks_.

Mako can't speak, can barely breathe.

His hands are trembling.

_Socks._

It is almost winter, and for the first time in nearly two years, he has _socks._

Not small, moldy, faded, flimsy socks.

But beautiful, wool ones;so, so warm...

His feet won't be cold anymore. They won't be dirty.

"Do I see happy tears?" Bolin whispers.

Because he can't speak through his tears, he silently nods with trembling lips, crushing his brother to him in a vice-grip of a hug.

They wrap their arms around each other then; a tight, loving embrace.

"I knew you'd love 'em." Bolin replies, "Happy birthday, Mako!"

Mako just makes a pained, loving sound from his throat, that only Bolin knows the meaning off.

"I love you, too." Bolin says, "You're welcome. Now try 'em on! Try, try, try!"

And Mako plops down on the cold ground, and delicately rubs his thumbs over the soft surface before, slowly, slowly, cherishing the moment, slips his feet into one.

Granted, they are huge, probably adult sized, and the ankle part goes up to his knees, but they are so damn _warm..._

Mako can only stare at his pointed foot in awe as if in a trace, and before his knows it, fingers come down to tickle his foot.

He squires away with a laugh and watches Bolin's smile, "An'-an' in the summer when you get hot, y-you can put 'em on your hands and make puppets outta 'em! Can we do that, Mako!? _Please?"_

_"_'Course, Bo. But only if I can be the dragon!" He teases and puts the other on his hand, before he wipes away his happy, happy, _happy,_ tears.

"Roarrrrrr! I'm the Dragon of the West!" he growls.

"Noooo!" Bolin shrieks, _"Please_ don't eat me! I'm just a little Earthbender!"

And they both laugh, rolling on the floor.

"Bo...?" Mako asks, as he comes over and rests his head against the red- scarfed shoulder.

"Emmhhhmmm?"

"I'm not the bestest brother in the world. That's somebody else."

And Mako smiles as he watches Bolin's eyebrows furrow and his little pout come back, "It is? Who?"

"Ohhhhh...I don't know...I can't remember now. Oh, now I remember!" He looks around, then rests his eyes back on Bolin. "It's...YOU!" and his fingers attack Bolin's tummy in a tickle war.

"Ahhh! M-mako! St-top! Hahahaha! No! Haha!"

Mako blows bubbles on Bolin's cheeks before giving mercy.

"Mako?" Bolin cuddles up against Mako's neck, "We're gonna be brothers forever, right? Like, _forever_ forever? Till we're a billion?"

Mako lets his socked-hand poke Bolin's nose as he kisses his temple, "Forever, buddy. Even untill we're married."

"_What?!"_ Bolin shrieks and looks up at him.

Mako laughs, "Just kidding, bud. Forever, I promise. Now try and get some sleep."

"Okay, Mako. Happy birthday, night night."

"G'night, Bo."

* * *

_I bet you all thought Bolin was getting Mako a cupcake or his leather gloves or something! Nope! Haha!_

_Hope you all enjoyed, and please review! :)_


	11. Chapter 11- Fear the Misunderstood

_Note- this chapter will be different than the previous ones. _

_Mako knows that Bolin can't stay sweet and oblivious and compliant forever; the days where his little brother just goes along with everything he says are coming to an end, and he longs to go back to that more innocent time. Bolin's becoming more aware, more understanding, less nieve. The Triads and getting more harsh and demanding of them now that they're older and stronger, and Mako can only shield his brother from so much._

_Please tell me what you think about, and if you agree with my head-cannon:_

_While Mako is the more cynical and mature one of the two and did shield Bolin from a lot, Bolin wasn't completely oblivious and carefree and shielded. When they were growing up, especially when Bolin became a teenager and understood more of the harsh realty and things began getting worse and more dangerous, he wasn't as happy as we see him now. Sure, he was the more optimistic one of the two, but he was very sad. And I think once he started to see just how much Mako sacrificed for him, he would become very bitty and angry with himself, and feel guilty for never helping._

_I see Bolin as one of these people who can not lie straightforward very well, but lies about his feelings and puts up a happy front. He can be 'happy', but does not express his negative feelings very well, or more so, chooses to ignore them, and he very much hates telling Mako when he is upset, because he already feels guilty enough. He puts up this front of being a very confident person, but he is really very insecure about himself._

_Only since they've been in pro-bending, meeting Korra and being on Team Avatar, has he become "happy and carefree" My theory is that he hides what he always feels and puts on a 'mask'. With Bolin's big character arc in book two, that mask will start to crack._

_Sorry that this is depressing...I just love this precious boy!_

_Please leave me your thoughts! ;)_

_PS, Bolin might be OOC here...I'll try not to... :)_

_Warning: angsty!_

* * *

_"The hearts of small children are delicate organs. A cruel beginning in this world can twist them into curious shapes. The heart of a hurt child can shrink so that forever afterward it is hard and pitted as the seed of a peach. Or, again, the heart of such a child may fester and swell until it is misery to carry within the body, easily chafed and hurt by the most ordinary things." - Carson Smith McCullers_

* * *

_Mako, fourteen; Bolin, twelve._

* * *

If dragon's weren't extinct, one would've coward at the flames in Mako's eyes. His face blotchy with anger, mouth pinched in a fine line, and one could tell he was a force to be reckoned with.

What made the Firebender's anger really flare, though, was that Bolin seemed uncaring to the danger he had put himself in. The younger boy was all passive face and sideways eyes, looking at the world outside their alley, appearing to be quite enjoying ignoring his brother's lecture, with a certain mastery to the pout of his lips.

Face heating even more, Mako spun his brother around, fingers griping his shoulders.

"Hey, _answer_ me when I'm talking to you! Do you want to be sent away to that damned orphanage, huh? Is that it? That's what's gonna happen if you continue being careless! Why the heck would you do something so dangerous?" Mako fumed, embers licking his tongue. "Do you just not care what happens to you anymore, huh?"

No response given, Bolin just turned his gaze towered a particular moldy spot on the wall, mouth grim, and set. With a fixed, angry stare, pebbles levitated, and one by one, flew against the dumpster underneath with an echoing clad of tin.

"Bolin._"_

More bangs as the earth bullets hit the metal, denting the dumpster and scurrying away some spider-rats. The Earthbender's grunting and uncharacteristically bitter face, twisted the elder boy's heart. But enough was enough.

Mako shared his brother's pain and anger, and, if he had been a uncareing only child, without Bolin, he might have done the same thing that he was scolding his brother for.

But they _did_ have each other, and that made all the difference in the world.

"_Bolin."_

The said brother flared around, _"What?! What, Mako, what_ _do you want me to say?!_",eyes wild, like Mako had never seen; slightly frightening, as if the Fire Nation in his little brother's blood was coming to the surface. "It wasn't my damn fault!"

"Hey, watch your mouth!"

"You curse all the time!" Bolin exclaimed back, "So does everyone in the Triad, and every other low-life we've grown up with! What difference does it make?"

"Because it's not nice! Mom and Dad would want us to have clean mouths, that's why!"

Bolin just rolled his eyes, scoffing, "Hypocrite."

"I know I do it, Bo. But that doesn't make it right."

"Whatever."

Mako just looked at him, eyes searching his brother's, trying to make him understand.

With a quiet, desperate, yet stern voice, he asked, "Do you have any idea what could have happened to you tonight?" Mako finally locked eyes with Bolin, and the younger boy didn't dare turn away. "Those officers had you hand-cuffed on the ground, all beaten up, and they were getting ready to put you in their truck to bring you to jail, straight to the orphanage! How would I have gotten you back?! Spirits, Bolin, I-"

"-_I get it, okay?!_ I was stupid! Why do care so much what I do anyway, huh!? Bolin yelled, face livid, "I'm almost a teenager, I can take care of myself!"

"Clearly, you can't! Because otherwise you would have not done something so reckless and actually have used your head for once instead of-"

"-Would you stop yelling at me?! I won't do it again!" the younger boy growled, pebbles floating dangerously, "Why do you have to be so controlling?! No kids act like you! You're only fourteen and you act like a _parent_ or something! Why can't you just act your age for once?"

"Well," Mako seethed, voice dark and bitter, "incase you haven't noticed, I kinda have to be this way, considering we_ don't have any parents! _I had to watch them _die_, and I promised them I would protect you with my life, Bolin! Did that answer your question?!" Mako's breathed heavily, eyes flickering.

Bolin gasped, eyes wide when realising what he had just said to Mako. Guilt and regret flooded him so suddenly he felt he might through up. Mako was glaring at him like had never had before. Bolin shamefully looked away, trying to hide his tears.

"M-mako...I'm sorry...I'm _so sorry..._Please don't hate me..." he begged.

A few silent seconds passed of Mako's heavy breathing, and Bolin's wet eyes boring wholes into the ground.

Finally, Bolin felt a firm hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Mako's face.

He expected to see rage, hate, resentment.

He only saw sorrow, pain.

He only saw love.

He only saw open arms and forgiveness.

Mako's eyes were soft and regretful as he went on, "Bo...Bolin, look at me. There is _nothing_ that could ever happen, nothing you could _ever_ say that would make me ever hate you, understand? Yes, I get mad and yell, but that's because I can't dare to lose you. I..." Bolin saw Mako swallow, painful,"I... would die without you. I wouldn't have a will to live without you with me. I-I love you so much; I _love you_ with everything I am, with my whole heart and soul. Promise me, you'll never forget that, please."

Bolin sucked in a shaky breath and nodded quietly. "You're my everything, too."

_Family is everything, my darlings, never forget that._

_Yes, Mommy!_

_Okay, Momma! Family forever!_

Mako set his jaw, "Family is everything," he whispered, recalling her words like the wind past his ears. "_You are my everything."_ he spoke to Bolin.

Bolin didn't care anymore to wipe the tears away as Mako went on, placing a gentle hand to his cheek, "Please, Bo. Just listen to me, please. No more yelling, I promise. Just-just hear me out; I need to make you understand what would have happened, okay?"

_"Okay, Mako."_

"_Okay."_ he sucked in a shaky breath, finding the truth of this word, changing, and getting harder to believe every time he said it, with every year older passing.

Mako let his hand fall from his brother's cheek and began, forcing his words to be calm. He breathed deeply, feeling very much like an adult giving a child a lecture, "You and your so-called 'friends' defiled and attempted to uproot the Orphanage sign. You nearly got caught, and if you did, you would have gone to jail, and_-if lucky-_ be let off easy and sent to that _same_ orphanage as punishment, being separated from me forever. But you most likely would have been shipped off to some farm in the Earth Kingdom or a work camp. And let me tell you, as much as the street kids say how _horrible_ the orphanage is, it is nothing compared to out there!" Mako exclaimed, pointing.

Mako could now see Bolin lips start to tremble, eyes darting to the floor in shame, and Mako squeezed his shoulder.

"I'm not gonna let what we've worked so long for, just go to waste. Spirits, I almost lost you tonight!" his eyes held tears he wouldn't alow fall . "Bo..." he sucked in a breath through his teeth, throat tightening, "What would I have done if they took you away from me?" his voice broke. "I-I think I'd just give up..."

It came too close tonight, too close...

Bolin eyes snapped up to meet his brother's, mouth agape.

He knew Mako loved him dearly, but all these confessions were too much.

"_Please don't say that."_ Bolin whispered, eyes shut tight, "Not when you have so much to live for and I just get in the way. Not when... you'd be so much better... off w-without me..." a whimper escaped his throat.

_"Bo..._that's not true. You don't get in the way."

When Bolin finally spoke again, his voice was a whisper, " Yes, I do. I'm sorry, Mako. I just...I was _angry._ I hate that place so much, and it was almost like...like revenge, you know? And those guys, those Earthbenders. I didn't care that they were sixteen; they just made me feel accepted for once. Heh..." Bolin rubbed a grimy hand across his face, "Like they ever really cared about me..." he muttered, "I really_ am_ such an idiot."

"Only sometimes you are." Mako tried to smile, saying lightly,"When you just do things without thinking. You're too impulsive. And I'm sorry, too. I should have controled my anger. I shouldn't have said those things to you."

Bolin shook his head, "No, you were right. I deserved it. Besides, what I said was just as bad." he closed his eyes, hand fisted tight. "...I was so _angry,_ Mako. So angry, and I thought that destroying that sign would somehow be getting even with those lousy social workers. I wasn't thinking clearly, or about the consequences. It felt like for once, I could retaliate, and get back at them for what they do to kids." Bolin slowly opened his eyes again, looking right into amber, "But I guess it just wasn't my..."

Mako reached down and took Bolin's fisted hand, and gently uncured the fingers, holding his cut palm in his own.

"Wasn't your fight?" Mako's asked softly, eyes gleaming.

"Yeah." Bolin swallowed and tried to match Mako's small smile, "Wasn't my fight. I guess I just don't know when I'm too over my head. I guess that's why I always get into stupid situations, huh?"

"Well," Mako replied, embracing him, arms wrapping around tight, "yeah. But that's why we've got each other. That's what brothers are for, Bo."

Bolin could feel his eyes begin to sting as he buried his head into Mako's shoulder, the red scarf, still forever soft after everything.

"I'll never do that again, I promise. And I promise to think more before I do stuff, okay? Please forgive me." He whispered.

"I already have." Mako griped Bolin tighter in his arms, "You know I can never stay mad at you for long."

After a moment of just the two holding each other, the wind blowing by, they let go, each missing the other's warmth.

Bolin: "Hey, bro?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not going anywhere. I'll never let anyone separate us. And If they try, they're gonna get a face full of dirt!" He exclaimed, punching his hand in the air.

Mako chuckled and ruffled Bolin's long, shaggy hair, "That's the little brother I know and love..."

Bolin beamed, eyes bright once again, "Yeah, I'm pretty great, ain't I?"

"Hmm...let me think about that..."

"Mako!"

"I'm just teasing!" He laughed, happy the tension was gone, "Sheesh, take it easy! It was supposed to be funny!"

"You have the sence of humor of a osterach-horse." Bolin exclaimed.

"At least I didn't get bitten by one!"

"Once! I was sleeping under a tree and scared them when I woke up! And you were the one who wanted to make a shelter by the creek in the first place!"

"How was I supposed to know that was where they brought the heard to drink?" Mako asked.

"Wow! I don't know! Mayyybeeee the loud naying and the fact that they were all grazing there by the water was a clue?"

Mako pouted, "Your sarcasm is very unappreciated."

Bolin smiled. "You're just mad 'cuz animals hate you."

"They really do..."

"We should get a pet!" Bolin yelled happily, "OHHH, and I could teach it tricks!"

"Oh, we really shouldn't...another mouth to feed, Bo. We can barely get a meal a day for ourselves as it is."

"But then you could learn to be more animal friendly, and we can all do circus tricks together, and make money!" the earthbender laughed, "Why didn't I think of this before!? I'm a genius!"

Mako's eyebrow twitched, "Bro...not to burst your bubble, but people barely give us the time of day when _we_ beg. We need serious ideas. And if animal cruelty is the next reason I get arrested, at least we can have good meat to eat."

Bolin glared, "I am _not_ hunting again!"

"But-"

"-And sucking on frozen frogs when I get sick does _not_ count as a meal! So help me, Agni, my tongue grew warts!"

"Bo, I checked your tongue! There was nothing on it!"

"It's my tongue! I could feel it! You weren't the one being tortured with the slimy grossness of a frog in your mouth! I never put you through such agony!" Bolin bellowed mellow-dramatically.

"You we're barly conscious, and feverish; how do even remember that?"

"Frogs were haunting my nightmares for weeks, Mako! They were hopping and croaking, and it's like they wanted revenge! It was a very scarring experience!"

Mako snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Why couldn't you have just heated it up, and we have eaten it?" Bolin asked. "I heard frog is good roasted..."

"I thought that's how you were supposed to eat it when you're sick, but apparently, this medicine woman said it was...well, she said some really big words, but she made it pretty clear they had to be sucked frozen." Mako shrugged.

"_Never. Again."_ Bolin hissed.

Mako sighed and ruffled his brother's hair. He was never going to let this go, and Mako was sure to be hearing about this years down the line.

"Hey, Everything, we haven't eaten all day. Wanna see if we can find some non-frog related food down by the docks?"

"Sure!" Bolin replied, rant over, already out of the alley.

Mako took a deep breath, and watched his brother being happy once more, trying not to think about how close he came to losing him tonight.

One day was slowly coming to an end, and another would begin tomorrow.

And they would survive, somehow.

So long as Bolin continued to be his wonderful Everything.

* * *

_"People fear what they don't understand, and hate what they can't conquer." - Andrew Smith_

* * *

Bolin made his way to the store that he had started working at in Dragon Flatts, eager to get his pay for the week. The borough was small, and poor, and occupied manly by non-benders, but most of them didn't pose as dangerous or care that he was homeless, with threats to send him away. They were people who just stuck to themselves, heavily influenced by their native cultures. The Watertribe lady who ran the store with her daughter was round and always hummed as she worked, mixing her authentic stews with salted, blubbery meats in a huge pot that was always brewing and made Bolin's stomach twitch.

When he arrived at the store that afternoon, he was surprised to find it locked, yet the sign on the door, and the lights shining inside, clearly stating it was opened.

Bolin tapped on the window, and called, his voice muffled by the glass, "Hey, ma'am!? Ms. Lua? Fina? The door is locked, can you please let me in?"

After a moment of banging, he saw both the mother and her daughter, one year older than him, inside. They seemed to be upset; Ms. Lua gesturing to the door with a grim face, and trying to nudge her daughter closer to the door. When their heads snapped up to see him, thier faces changed once again.

Ms. Lua said something to Fina that she seemed to get annoyed with, and then the woman disappeared behind the back of the store.

He watched with sweating hands as Fina walked with hard eyes towered the door. She started to open it, and when Bolin reached to the handle, she swatted his hand away, only letting the door open a crack, just enough for her head to stick out.

"_What?" _

Bolin blinked, mouth opening and closing like a koi-fish. He knew the Watertribe girl had never really liked him- like he knew many people didn't like homeless kids and thought they were savage- but the venom in her voice dripped contempt contrary to her usual amiable personality.

"Oh, um, hi, Fina! How are you? Sorry if this is a bad time..." He figited with his hands, "Um, can I come in, please? It's time for my pay."

"No."

"...W-what?"

"Why didn't you tell us you were half Fire Nation?"

Bolin paled, "I...didn't think it mattered...You never asked. Did-did I do something wrong?" He pleaded, "Can I just please talk to your mother, I-"

"-You aren't allowed to work here anymore, Bolin. Sorry." She stated, not seeming very sorry at all, and started to close the door.

"_What?!" _he caught the door with his foot, fingers desperately grasping the edges_, "_No, please, I need this job!" He exclaimed frantically. "Please, I'll do anything!"

Fina took some bills out of her pocket, not bothering to count them out, and pushed them violently into his chest, "Here's your pay. Now _leave._"

"But..._why? _I don't understand." He said quietly.

"We don't hire dirty little _Sulfer-suckers." _She hissed, her blue eyes hard, "That's why. You lied about who you were. We don't want _your_ kind here."

"There is nothing wrong with '_my'_ kind!" Bolin yelled back,"This city is for everyone! For all the nations together!"

"Well, sense you know this city so well, I guess you'll just have to find another job. Won't be too hard, sense you already have the unfair advantage that we don't!"

A horrible feeling that he had never experienced before twisted his gut. He felt his cheeks burning, anger and shame growing, "_I_ have the advantage? _Me?!_ You're insane! I'm homeless and have been an orphan my whole life, while you have a family, and a sister, a home, you go to school! What could I possibly have that you don't?!" he scoffed.

She looked him straight in the eyes, hatred livid.

_"You're bender filth._"

The door slammed so hard that he could sense the earth beneath him shake.

* * *

Mako snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring into his lap to improvise.

"Don't do that." Bolin muttered.

"Do what?"

"That thing where you ignore the question until I stop asking. You do that, like, _all_ the time."

"I don't do that." Mako scoffed.

"_Yes,_ you do."

"_No,_ I don't. Just drop it, okay?"

"Mako…"

And the sad tone in his brother's voice made him look up.

Mako groaned in defeat; he never could win with his little brother.

Letting his soft, pitying eyes meet his brother's big, open ones, he searched his heart, trying to see how he could avoid this.

He knew they would have to talk about this eventually, what with Bolin getting more and more remarks, and Firebender's notorious hatred growing more obvious as they both grew older. He just wished Bolin didn't have to be belittled by it too.

He wanted to tell Bolin that he would 'understand when he was older' like had so many times in the past.

But he _was_ older now, as much as it pained him, he couldn't protect Bolin forever.

"Bo...please... It's hard to explain..." He tried.

"I'm not a little kid anymore, you know. I'm twelve." Bolin stated, "I've been called this all my life, and I wanna know why."

"Bolin, it's not...I mean, people are just ignorant, and-"

"- Tell me what a '_sulfer-sucker'_ means."

Mako looked into his brother's eyes for a moment, Bolin matching his stare, daring him to lie.

With a heavy sigh, Mako gave in, "It's a bad name they give people who are half Fire Nation, but don't look it and bend the element of thier other half. It's because people are still really scared of and hate the Fire Nation because of the 100-year-war. _'Sulfer-suckers'_ are said to be evil like Firebenders, but even more crazy because they can't bend fire and can't control the craziness, so they're cursed."

A few silent seconds passed, Bolin pouting, his dirty hands fisting, "But...but we look nothing alike. How would people even know I'm half Fire Nation just by looking at me?"

"They can tell." Mako said quietly. Then he snapped his face to look at Bolin again, "You look it, too. Besides, we're always together. They have a way of knowing."

"But I'm not crazy..." Bolin said, and it was then that he finally understood the meaning behind all the looks he had been given with that name.

"Of course you're not. There is nothing wrong with you. It's just...A hundred years of hatred takes a long time to go away." Mako stated, the words feeling heavy in his mouth.

Bolin swallowed "Is that why Mom never talked about her home, and we never met her parents or anything...? Why people don't give us as good of jobs? Because they hate us?"

Mako sighed, wearily, and ran a hand across his face, "Yeah, Bo. I think it is."

"But we can't help how we're born!" Bolin says, eyes hard, "What did _we_ do that was so bad? Everyone who was around during the war is dead or, like, a billion years old!"

"People fear and hate what they don't understand."

Bolin seems to think about this for a moment, eyes in his lap.

"But Mom and Dad...they understood. They loved each other." He whispered.

"Yeah," Mako smiles, "They really did..."

"Avatar Aang made this city to be peaceful for all nations together, right? I wish everyone could understand like he did."

"Me, too, little brother. Me, too..."

Then, Bolin says something that brings back a memory into Mako's mind: A pudgy, pout-faced Watertribe girl on the front cover of a smudged newspaper, crumpled on top of a cluttered desk in the Triple Threat's Head Quarters years ago. A Waterbending prodigy showing her skill with her fist extended, and fearless eyes, all belonging to an important word that he didn't know how to pronounce.

_A...Av...Avi...Something..._

Bolin says, eyebrows furrowed as he looks up into amber eyes with honesty, "Do you think this new Avatar will understand, too?"

His throat constricts, his voice pinched with doubt of the unknown, "I hope so, Bo. For our sake, and the sake of this city, I hope so..."


	12. Chapter 12- Innocence is Bliss

___"You can play it safe, and I wouldn't blame you for it. You can continue as you've been doing, and you'll _survive,___ but is that what you want? Is that enough?" _

___― J.M. Darhower, __Sempre_

* * *

Mako dragged his dirt-engraved fingers across the rusted metal-wired fence as he walked, listening to the echoing clad and feeling the bite of the cold metal bump and fade against his flesh. He pushed the heel of his palm against the criss-crossing wires, and watched as a red imprint etched into the darkened skin, and slowly faded away.

As he bent down, and plucked up a handful of dirt, swishing the muddy particles around with the pads of his thumb and fore-finger, he realized that this was the closest to being Earth Kingdom he could ever feel at one time.

Spring was his favorite season.

It seemed it was the only season that brought life.

His brother's birth, late in May, surrounded with the peddles of lilacs; the birds flying around, fluttering from their winter hideouts, coming out once again to brave the new world.

The Spring Solstice bringing back memories of shimmering greens and yellows, their father's laughter and eagerness to let them stay up extra late to listen to his stories about his childhood back home, whispering in his soul. The streets littered with ribbons that waved like grass in the wind; bean curd puffs sold on every corner, children's mouths sticky with pau buns, their laughter echoing for all to hear.

Mako wanted to be part of it all again; but this year, just like the last five, he knew better than to stay away from it all.

His stomach twitched at the smell of roast duck, the breeze floating a wayward ribbon as it danced in the air above him. He followed it with his eyes, and ran, giving himself a little push, and catching it in his grasp. Bolin would love it, the little earth symbol etched onto the end would make him happy.

Sighing, he stuffed the ribbon into his left pocket, the clod of dirt in his right, and made his way up a hill to watch the celebration from above.

If he tried to make himself one with the crowed once again, his flaming amber eyes would meet emerald; and one horrible look was all he needed to get, one rock thrown at his head, one hateful name, and he would never be one of them again. Not when dad wasn't around anymore.

He knew what would happen. Just like he knew better than to tell Bolin about the celebration today. His little brother would be so excited, but they didn't belong there anymore.

But his brother was far away on the other side of city in another distinct, being spared the pain of the seas of green eyes and families of Earthbenders showing off their skills.

No, today, he needed to brave this by himself.

Reaching the hill and sitting down, he took the dirt out of his pocket, and cradled it in one hand, while his other hand blazed with flames.

He looked from one hand to the other, eyes flickering back and forth. Then, very slowly, let the pebbles of dirt slide onto the fire in his right hand, and consume the flame, listening to the hiss of smoke as the blaze died out, and the earth triumphed.

He smiled.

Gleeful shouts of_ Earth Kingdom, Earth Kingdom,_ ran out from down the hill, children chasing each other, ribbons streaming behind them.

Three pairs of green eyes- so like Bolin's yet so different- locked upon his amber at once. Two pairs hardened and twisted with familiar hate and fear, muttering to each other _Ewww what's _he_ doing here; filthy Fire Nation, my parents say Fire Nation people still want to rule the world and that it's bad luck to look at them. C'mon let's go._

Mako just turned away instinctively; too used to the names and words to get angry anymore. He looked at the ribbon in his hand, waving it back and forth for a minute, and picturing Bolin's smiling face, before noticing one boy was still watching him.

Without a word, the boy walked over to him, standing right in front of him, his shadow blocking out the sun. Big green eyes shone with everything so pure.

"You have a ribbon, too?" The boy asked, "My name's Tupa. What's your's?"

"Mako." he stated. He didn't really understand why this boy was bothering him. If he was going to scold him and chuck a rock at his head like some kids did the year before, then he wished he would just hurry it up.

"Cool! Sooo..." Tupa shifted his feet in the grass, "what are you doing here by yourself?"

"What do you care?" Mako scoffed, "Go back to your friends. Don't you know it's bad luck to talk to a Fire bender?"

"You looked sad," the boy titled his head, "And it's not bad luck." Tupa said, and sat down, to Mako's amazement, "People are stupid, Mako. Don't let 'em get to you. 'Sides, my Aunt is a Fire bender, and she's lots of fun to talk to. Doesn't matter if your Fire Nation or not. You could be be half platypus-bear for all I care."

Mako found a instant surge of overwhelming gratitude directed at this boy.

A few silent seconds passed, and then he let himself tell this stranger what he had little strength to tell many other people.

"I'm half Earth Kingdom." he muttered, "My father was Earth Kingdom." he whispered, feeling that Tupa deserved at least that much for being so friendly with him. He knew within a second that he and Bolin would be great friends in another life.

"I can tell. You look it." he said.

Mako blinked, mouth open for a moment.

"You...you _can? I do? _How?_"_

Tupa chucked, "Well for one thing, you've got dirt all over you! Look at your hands!"

Mako blinked and started down at his mud stained hands, letting the dirt slide though his fingers.

Mako smiled uneasily, "No...but-but _seriously._ How could you tell?"

"I _can't, _Mako." Tupa grinned, "I just don't care, pal. People are single-minded. Seventy years of getting used to new-found peace should be enough, don't you think? Why should we hate each other for what our great-grand fathers did?

"I..." Mako could only swallow back his emotion,"_Thank you,_ Tupa. You are very wise. Thank you."

"Anytime, friend." he stood up, "Will you be coming to the ceremony today? You gotta stay and see the fireworks!"

"I...Tupa...thank you. But..." he bite his lip, forcing himself with all his might to refuse, "I'd love to, but _I can't_...I have my little brother to take care of...It's getting late and I should be getting back home..."

Tupa pouted, clearly upset, "Awe, okay...Well, you should bring your brother back here sometime so we call all hang out."

"Heh...yeah, maybe."

"Oh, one last thing!" Tupa stuffed his hand in his pocket, and took out a shimmering stone, "Here, give this to your brother! I bought it today! It's supposed to change colors when you bend it! He'll love it!"

Mako's mouth fell open, eyes wide, "Whoaaaa! Thanks, man! He _will_ love this!" Mako exclaimed. Then he froze, eyes wide, "_Wait_...h-how did you know my brother was an Earthbender?!"

He looked up, but the place where Tupa once stood, was empty.

Mako jumped and blinked, spinning around and trying to find the kind boy.

"Tupa! _Tupa?_ Where did you go?!"

He spun again, then dashed up to the top of the hill, eyes searching the field and street for the boy.

He saw the two other mean boys who had scoffed at him earlier, walking back to the center of the party, but no Tupa.

He felt something sting behind his eyes as he looked down at the rock shimmering in his hand, his face reflecting back at him from the smooth surface.

For the first time in six years, he could almost believe the Spirits were watching out for him.

* * *

Bolin had had The Dream again.

Mako kept telling him it was ridiculous, but he had been having the same dream for nights now, and the continuation of it was starting to make him wonder...

The one where the muscled, fierce, loyal, beautiful girl with tanned skin, and eyes as blue as the sea, laughed with him, and bent rocks with him in a spar on some Island with these spiraling gates...

It _sounded_ ridiculous, but he couldn't deny how _vivid and amazing_ the dream always was.

It was wonderful, and they always had so much fun. But what he couldn't figure out was, if this girl was an Earthbender, why did she look _Watertribe_? And somehow, he and Mako were on a pro-bending team, and not on the streets. They were always pro-bending in the dream; he and Mako side by side, dodging blasts of water and fire, chunks of rocks...but then, always soon after, the girl comes back into the dream, clad in their supposed team uniform... _waterbending. _And, sometimes, when this girl would get mad, in all her powerful glory, fire would come out of her palms like a blaze, and he knew, whoever she was, she was a force to be reckoned with.

The girl always had this determined pout on her face, a fearless look in her eyes that said she's like to see anyone dare mess with her. And it seemed like, when he tried to ask her her name, her lips would open, but something-_always something_- would jolt him awake before he would hear the answer.

Not this time. When darkness came that night, he had never been so eager to surrender to his dreaming mind and let his eyes close shut.

He would find out her name. _  
_

_He just had to_.

* * *

Mako dodged another blast of Earth, using his fire to spring him up and shoot a blast out from his foot, targeting Jin's chest. But not a second too soon, Jin had already constructed a rock wall as defense; the ground groaning in protest, the plates shifting under Mako's feet and nearly sending him to his back.

But just as planned, Bolin had sunk around while the bully was distracted, and hurled a boulder at Jin's stomach, the boy flying away, eating dust.

The boy was seething, a bleeding scratch etched on his cheek as he trampled back up,"You fifthly _half-breed_s think you can beat me!? You don't got what it takes! Why don't you just leave the Triad now while your still in once piece, before I tell Zolt you're stealing from him!"

Mako visibly paled, blazing hand stilling, _"You wouldn't dare._"

"_Wanna bet?"_ Jin smiled devilishly, yellow teeth gleaming. "Me, Ty, and Hoku, know exactly where the Big Man's at! We tell 'em, and you little freaks will get a whippin' of your lifetime!"

Bolin looked fearfully at his brother, eyes huge, "M-mako...?" he piped, "He's right! Zolt's gonna whip us again, and lock us in the cooler! H-how much did you take, bro!?"

Mako just death-glared at Jin, who seemed to enjoy matching the stare down. "Yeah, tell 'em, _big bro_!" Jin scoffed, "Tell your little baby bro how bad you are! Tell him how there a _warrant_ out for your arrest! Tell him how-"

"-You, _shut up!_" Mako hissed, flames flying from the corners of his mouth, "Just shut the _hell up,_ and leave us alone! We're getting out of the Triad, and I don't care if I have to go through you to do it!"

Jin just cackled like a mad-man. It was an evil cackle, twisted; the kind Mako had seen accompanied with cactus-juice and beer in dark corners of the Head Quarters, girls in short robes gaining kisses and rough touches from men with beady, blood- shot eyes, putrid breath, and gropey hands, tangling legs underneath tables until morning.

"Mako!" Bolin exclaimed, tears pricking his eyes, "Tell me what you did! How much did you-?"

"-Quiet, Bo! Please! I had to, I had no other choice!" Mako begged him to understand. "He wasn't paying me for my runs at all! We're broke again! The real reason I got arrested last week was-" Mako rolled and ducked as a blast of dirt narrowly missed hitting the back of his knees-" 'cause I got caught selling _opium _down at the docks!"

"_Mako!" _Bolin yelled, while putting up a rock wall to protect them, it shaking from Jin's onslaught of attacks, "How could you?!_ I can't believe_-"

"-_Please__,_ Bolin! Can't we talk about this later!? This really isn't the time or place, okay?!" he begged, brow sweating, head pounding from the bruise blooming on his temple, flinching when another rock shot a wave of cracks across Bolin's shield.

"No! It's not '_okay', _Mako!" the Firebender blinked at the venom in his little brother's voice, "We'll talk about it _now_! There is a friggin' _warrant_ out for your arrest!" Bolin fumed like never before, and Mako thought for a moment his brother was capable of causing an earthquake, "Does- does this mean you're gonna be a bad guy now, huh!? You promised me you wouldn't do bad stuff! That stuff's illegal!"

"_I know_ it's illegal, Bolin! I didn't know that's what I was gonna be selling when I first went down there! Zolt just said it was just cactus-juice!" he dared a peek out behind Bolin's shield and blasted some fire at Jin before ducking back in, "I can't believe I trusted him! That _bast-_I mean that jerk!"

"I can't believe you did either!" the earth nearly shook with Bolin's livid voice, "Do you have any idea how worried I was when you didn't come back the other day?! I had to find out from Shady Shin- _Shin of all people_- that you were in jail for selling opium!"

"I'm sorry, Bolin! Please forgive me! I-ahhhuuuuughhhh!"

Bolin let his hands slip from his earth shield and snapped his head back towered the sound of his brother's scream.

Mako was sent backward with an eruption of dirt, his head hitting the wall with enough force for him to see stars and taste blood in his mouth, wetting his lips.

_"Mako!_ Mako, can you hear me?!" Bolin dashed over to him and shook his shoulder, "You gotta get up, please! I'm sorry for yelling at you! Please, get up!"

He wanted to, oh Spirits he wanted to get up and tell his little brother he was fine, but he couldn't open his eyes.

Or move his right arm without feeling a shooting pain race up it. And, dear Agni his temple was _pounding..._

"_Mako!"_

_Mako! Mako, baby, Mako...my sweet little Mako..._

_"Mako! _Answer me, please!"

_Mako...Mako...Mako, sweetheart..._

_"Momma...?"_

The last thing he felt before blanking out, where his brother's tears on his blooded lips, rocks lodged in his right arm, and his mother's soft hands tucking him in, her amber eyes twinkling...

"Momma..."

* * *

Hey! Sorry this was depressing! I wanted it to be more realistic!

Tell me if you thought it was bad!

Next one will be happier :)


	13. Chapter 13- The Most Important Word

"Sweet innocent child, with your open eyes.  
You've seen us for who we really are.  
And I know that there'll be tomorrow.  
So that hope can have it's glory day.  
And I wish that this world would embrace you  
from magic stars and mystery.  
My open heart ...

Why did we make it so hard, this life is so complicated  
until we see it through the eyes of a child.  
Why did we make it so hard, this life is so complicated  
until we see it though the eyes of a child"

- Reamonn lyrics:"Eyes of a Child"

* * *

_Mako, fifteen; Bolin, thirteen._

* * *

Bolin snapped his eyes open when the familiar pitter- patter outside the alley reached his waiting ears; the ground whispering through to him the lines and callouses on the soles of Mako's feet, the burn on his right toe, all writing an earth-engraved image to him that it was his brother.

It seemed Mako was always the only person he could ever sense was coming before he saw him...

An Earthbending term probed the back of Bolin's mind, as he stared intently at his scared and darkened feet; a name for this "sense" that was hidden, dusty, somewhere inside of his head that he couldn't recall. Something about Earthbenders using their feet to _"listen_" that he had heard from in half-forgotten bedtime stories, and dirt-crusted Triad members with huge muscles and no shoes, and_ staying rooted to the ground with firm stances; visualizing then attacking;" ...and she was known all over the land as the Greatest Earthbender in the World..."_

"Hey, Bo! I'm back!" the older boy called out unnecessarily, shaking Bolin out of his reverie. Hands waving what appeared to be a newspaper- albeit, a slightly stained and darkened newspaper- but one, none the less, and always a treasure to behold.

"Hey!" the younger boy greeted, then, face falling. "Please tell me there is something _inside_ the newspaper that it's wrapping..."

He tried desperately not to clutch the thin flesh of his abdomen to quiet it; his pained stomach letting out growling pleas for anything to consume, but he had learned long ago that asking would do little good.

Mako sighed as he plopped down beside Bolin, and made a pained face of guilt, "Sorry, buddy, I couldn't find anything to eat tonight..."

Bolin tried not to show his disappointment, pinching his skin and replaying, "Oh...That's okay. Not that hungry anyway." An easy lie that they could both see through.

Mako sniffed and wiped his hands on his pants, then looked at Bolin's face and gasped. A puple-blue smudge was blossoming under his right eye, and across his cheek.

"What happened?" Mako tentatively smoothed his fingers on the bruise, Bolin flinching slightly. "Someone hit you?" he demanded.

"Oh, this?" Bolin seemed to have forgotten it. "It's not a big deal," he shrugged. "Barely even feel it anymore. How was your day?"

"Bo...please don't do that. Tell me what happened."

"_Nothing." _he said,_ "_I'm fine, seriously. Tell me how job hunting went."

"_Bolin._"

Said brother sighed and looked away for a moment before looking back at Mako, "Ming and his friend were bothering Kisa again..." he winced at the memory. Kisa was a non-bender orphan girl the same age as Mako that they had come to be friendly with. She washed thier clothes sometimes, in exchange for them giving her any extra food they found. She had supplied them with cold water when Mako had gotten a bad fever last year, and was one of the only people they cared enough to call '_friend.'_

Bolin went on, "They just...They were touching her all over, hurting her...I...I had to _help_ her. I bent at them and they went down. But when I went to help Kisa up, Ming punched me. She's okay, though. I took her to Okka to heal her up." he said quietly, looking at the ground.

Mako looked at his brother, then took his fingers and titled Bolin's chin up to meet his eyes, "I am very proud of you, Bolin. You are a very good person. What those guys were doing was wrong, and makes them jerks, understand?"

Bolin smiled slightly, "Got it." he said quietly, "I just don't want her to end up like her big sister. She told me Kahrina is pregnant again."

"_Again?_ By Agni, those bas- I mean _weasel-snakes._" Mako muttered, "She only sixteen."

Bolin rubbed his eyes and sniffed, "She said Kahrina thinks she's just gonna give it to the orphanage once it's born."

Mako sighed, wearily, "It's her choice. Luckily we don't have to worry about that, eh?" He flexed his muscles to make Bolin smile again, and thanked the Spirits for the hundredth time that they were both boys. These streets were bad enough already without the two of them being girls.

"Do you think they'll be okay? I care about them." Bolin nussled his head into Mako chest.

"We'll watch out for them as much as we can without causing more trouble. They know we're here."

A few seconds passed, the water from the drain dripping like a solid beat.

"Soooo...," Bolin muttered, "What's the newspaper for...?"

Mako face seemed to lighten up when remembering what he had brought, "It's practice." he explained, pointing to the characters in the corner and smoothing out the creases, "Can you read any of this?"

"Bro..." Bolin said softly, "You know I can't. What's the point?"

"The _point_," Mako stated sternly, placing Bolin's fingers under the first line as a starter, "Is that I want us to be as smart as we can. We have to be able to write our own names at least."

"Zolt told me we'll never need to know this stuff. That it's just for rich, snobby people."

"And _I_ told you to stay away from him. Zolt's full of it. Anyway, " Mako touched the tip of his finger to the heading, the ink soft against his skin, "I can make out most of it, enough that it makes sense. It says something about the Avatar recently mastering Earthbending..."

Mako muttered under his breath for a moment, Bolin watching the shape of his mouth changing with each breath and character. "Okay: here." He pointing to the bottom, "Start here, okay?"

Bolin just looked at him wearily, and Mako flicked his eyes down to him, "Bo... we gotta learn...If we don't..." he closed his eyes and opened them, "I just wanna make something of ourselves. Please, try it for me? You used to love this when you were little."

"Yeah, 'cause they had pictures in 'em..." he sighed, "Okay, I'll try it for you, Mako."

"That's my little bro," and Bolin's hair was given an affectionate ruffle, "Give this part a go."

The younger boy took a deep breath, his tongue feeling heavy in his mouth, "_...T-the cat-owl...'cat-owl?'_" Bolin looked up and Mako nodded with a smile, "_...and the boy...played r-r-ram..._What?_ Rambunk...?_ What am I saying?"

"Just sound it out. C'mon, you got it! You're doing great so far!"

Bolin pouted and squinted his eyes, " ..._played r-ram...bunk...rambunk-shoooo...r-is-ly...t-to...t ogether...in the p-park...? And...something...they loved s-springtime most of all..." _Bolin blinked, rolling his tongue over his teeth. "What the heck is that _huge_ word?"

Mako rubbed his fingers over Bolin frown, playfully smoothing out the smile, "That one took me a while, too. It's _'ram-bunc-tious-ly.' _Means _'happy_' and _'playful._'"

"...Well, why didn't it just say that?!" Bolin through his hands in the air, "Why's it gotta be so big?"

"You'll get better at it, don't worry, bro." He patted Bolin shoulder, "Remember how hard Earthbending was when you started out? You never thought you'd be good. But I thought you a little bit, and you learned a lot on your own! Now you're getting better everyday! You practice and practice and you're great at it!"

"Heh, thanks, bro." he blushed.

"You _are, _Bo."

"Yeah, just wish I had gotten my bending a bit earlier, yeah know? I thought I was either a Firebender like you, or a non-bender."

Mako chuckled, "I'll remember the first day you bent for the rest of my life." he kissed the younger boy's temple.

"Really?"

"Uh, huh!" Mako nodded, "Wanna know why?"

Bolin groaned, "Please don't say it..."

"I'm gonna say it..."

"No matter how many times you say it, it doesn't make it cool!"

"I'm _so_ saying it now!"

"Mako, don't!"

"Because you..."

"Mako!"

"-_Rock!"_

_"_Ugh! Bro!"

Mako laughed and stuffed Bolin's face in his armpit, knuckles rubbing his head for a nuggie.

"M-mako! N-no! Stop!" He tried to get out of his brother embrace.

"Nope! Not till you say it back!"

"But no one says it anymore! It's not cool!"

"Say it, or I'll tickle you!"

"No!"

Fingers attacked Bolin's rib cage, and Bolin squealed and laughed from his stomach.

"N-no! Ahhhaaahhaaa! _Okay_! Okay, you win! I'll say it!"

Mako released Bolin with a smug smile, "Works every time."

Bolin caught his breath. He grumbled out, "You are flameo, Sifu Hotman..."

"What was that? Didn't hear you!"

"You are_ flameo,_ _Sifu Hotman!"_

Mako laughed, "See, that wasn't that bad, now was it?"

"_Torturous._" Bolin quipped, "See, I'm using big words already!"

Mako rolled his eyes.

"Hey, bro?"

"Hmm?"

"I got another word to describe you." Bolin said.

"Yeah?"

"_Dork." _

Mako punched his arm, and Bolin laughed. "In a good way! Hey, you said we should learn more words!"

"Shorty."

"Weird eye-browed."

"I actually agree with you on that, little bro."

More chuckles. "One...two...three! _Hot-head!"_

"Rock-brains!"

"Mud-pie!"

"Uhh...oh, _Fire-cracker!_ Hah!"

Mako's eyes hardened, "Where did you hear that? Don't say that; it's a bad term for Firebenders."

"Oh, _sorry_!" Bolin covered his mouth with his hands, "I just heard Shin call Zolt that the other day. Said he was a nothing but a flaming Fire-cracker."

"Don't listen to those guys-they're bad news, okay?"

"Okay, Mako. Sorry."

"Hey, Bo?"

He looked into amber eyes again, "Everything."

_Family is everything._

Bolin smiled and crawled up into Mako arms again, head resting in his lap, "You're my Everything, too. Love you."

"Love you, too, little bro."

"...But you really are a dork!"

"Oh, hush!"

"But you're _my_ dork! So it's okay!"

Mako rolled his eyes, "Yeah...yeah...Hey, why don't we go down to the pond, and we can cut our hair, and go swimming?"

Bolin was standing in a heartbeat. "Race ya!" and he was off.

"Hey, no fair! You didn't say 'go!'"

"Two-lettered words are for dorks!"

"Erg! _Bolin! _Wait up!"


	14. Chapter 14-The Blessed Child

_Yes, the strong gets more  
While the weak ones fade  
Empty pockets don't ever make the grade  
Mama may have, Papa may have  
But God bless the child that's got his own  
That's got his own_

_Money, you've got lots of friends  
Crowding round the door  
When you're gone, spending ends  
They don't come no more  
Rich relations give  
Crust of bread and such  
You can help yourself  
But don't take too much  
Mama may have, Papa may have  
But God bless the child that's got his own  
That's got his own_

_-Billie Holiday "God Bless this Child"_

* * *

Mako, sixteen; Bolin, fourteen.

* * *

Sweat beaded Bolin's temple; his long curls weighed down from sweat and fifth, hung over his eyes as he dared a peek around a corner, and he was acutely aware of the tangles of black hairs that he had to push back behind his straining ears. He had learned to keep track of the months by the centimeters of his hairs that grew to persistently always dangle in his eyes and tickle his nose.

He could never get that one curl to stay put, and all the spit in the world was used in vain to tame the wayward lock.

He used to love having Mako cut his hair when they were little. The ritual being every few months that weren't winter, the two of them jumping in the creak with its water ebbing around their dirt covered bodies, washing it all away. The fish nibbling at their toes, and the feel of Mako's fingertips flaming with orange, meticulously burning away excess curls from the nape of his neck, along the crown of his head, and watching as the crunching, frayed bits of black fluff, were guided by the water's flow and floated away.

Now, as he ranked his hands through the greasy mop of cobwebs, the hairs were not taken for granted, for he needed to conceal his face as best as he could.

As he fingered the curl once more, chewing on his bottom lip in anxiety and praying that no one would come while he was on lookout for Shin's little "security work", he realized that having long hair might not be a bad idea.

Showing how far he'd come was something to be proud of.

* * *

As Mako reared another corner, socks heavy and sloshing with water, he wove his way through the sea of people on the sidewalk. He made room for himself, slipping in between the skirts and pulled-up collars, breathing in the familiar bitter scent of smog that wafted from the factories. The air was think with ash and the humidity made his scarf morph to the back of neck.

The annoying news people shouting by stands about prices of sales, new styles of robes, the best bending schools to send your kids, and other things that didn't apply to him, were drowned out by his stomach growling.

It was the same thing everyday.

He would look for food in heat, or cold, ran, or shine, running dangerous jobs for the Triads and hoping not to get beaten up or thrown in jail.

He clutched his abdomen and continued walking, fingering the smooth stone in his pocket that Bolin had sculpted for him. A man coming in the opposite direction, bumped shoulders with him, jerking him back with enough force to cause him to stumble a bit.

"Hey! Watch it, kid!" A horrible glare was shot his way.

Mako just huffed a curse under his breath, patting his pockets to make sure his five yuans were still there, and proceeded his way down the street. A grumble of_ Fire Nation_, met his ears, and if he weren't in a huge crowd, he was pretty sure he would show the man just how 'Fire Nation' he really was.

He sighed, when he counted out the five bills. The thought of eating nothing but a dumpling or two a day until he could get some more money, made his throat constrict.

He finally made it to the dumpling stand, setting his jaw as the vendor eyed him with up and down.

"What can I get for ya, sonny boy?"

Mako reluctantly handed the vendor one yuan, feeling the heat linger on his fingers. "Two dumplings, please." he said stiffly.

The man nodded curtly, stuffing the bill in his money box. "Steamed, or uncooked?

Mako thought for a moment. Bolin liked it best when he heated the dumplings himself, making the dough nice and crispy, watching the white goo change to golden brown in his fingers, with the sent of sesame oil dissipating the filth that occupied the alley.

Nearly of them ever stated it, but they knew it was the closest smell to their mother's cooking they would ever achieve.

"Uncooked."

The man hummed as he delicately wrapped the dough around the green onions and beef, molding the shape so fine as the grease stained the bottom of the paper bag they were placed into.

Mako tried not to salivate; his fingers twitching in his pockets, begging to reach for another bill and pay for two more...

The man rose an eyebrow, "You sure look hungry, kid. Sure you don't want anymore?"

His growling stomach contradicted his head shake, "No thank you, sir."

The man's smile was a rare sight, as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "Well...how about this? Since today is a special day, I'll through in two more for ya for free, what do you say?"

Mako blinked, mouth hanging open and closing like a Koi-fish.

"I-I'm sorry? No, sir, I couldn't possibly-"

"Ya heard me, kid." the man grunted, waving floury hands in the air, "Don't look so surprised when someone does something nice f'ya!"

"I-I...you...you're just gonna give me..._.free dumplings?_" The words felt..._.wrong_ somehow in his mouth.

Was this some kind of trick?

He felt his bones stiffen; the doubts picking at his ears...

"Yep, kid. It's called 'being nice.' Don't your parents teach ya these kinda things?"

Mako turned his gaze to the ground and fingered his scarf.

The man sighed as he sculpted two more dumplings; the onion's color turning the dough green where they were placed, the beef juice dripping out of the folds.

The smell alone was enough to make his knees buckle.

"What's your name, kid?"

"Huan."

"Well, Huan, I hope you have a very nice time celebrating this special day."

Mako, shame flushing his cheeks, forced himself to meet the man's gray eyes, "Sir? I..._thank you."_

The man's white smile was followed by the crinkle of the grease-stained paper bag that his fingers closed around.

He gripped the bag tighter, forcing his arm to bring it to his side before it was taken away.

Because this was _too damn good to be true;_ people didn't just _give away free food_, especially to street rats. Mako couldn't understand what this was, he-

"You okay there, Huan? You look a little pale."

Mako swallowed. "Sir?" his voice came out more nervous than he would have liked, shifting from foot to foot. He glanced around, eyes darting left and right to make sure no one was listening. "Um...what makes today so 'special', exactly...?"

Grey eyes widened, disbelief crossing the vendors' features. Mako was sure he had said the wrong thing. He knew he didn't deserve these dumplings now; fear telling him that this man might want them back, and Mako had a sudden urge to bolt, to run, run, _run _all the way back to the familiar shadows of the alleys.

But the man's gentle eyes held him firmly in place.

The gentleness, nonjudgmental gaze in his eyes reminded him of Bolin, of a man in a red scarf with the same eyes as his younger brother...

"Why, it's the Avatar's fifteenth birthday of course! The _whole world_ practically knows that!" the man exclaimed with wonder, too loudly, flour-caked hands flying in the air.

He could feel people staring at him now; _what's that_ _street rat doing?_ Something twisted his gut, but he pushed it down

"Oh, right! How could I forget that? I knew I was forgetting something!" Mako smacked his forehead as if to say '_duhhhh'_, and made himself laugh despite himself.

_The Avatar's fifteenth birthday... _he ran this through his head, not sure what to make of it, yet he couldn't help the small flame of jealousy and resentment growing inside him. _She has everything she could ever want, probably a stuck up snob._

Mako griped the bag tighter and bowed slightly to the vendor.

"Thank you so much, sir."

"No, thank you, Huan." the man took a sip of water from the cooler, and wiped his forehead with a rag, "Have a nice day."

* * *

Bolin could never stay asleep for long.

Paranoia always setting in; the fear he would wake up with Mako gone, endless possibilities that lurked in the shadows relentlessly plaguing him. Everything and anything that could go wrong when he let himself become victim to his sleeping mind, threatened to keep his drooping eyes open until he sensed that familiar patter of footsteps coming to the alley.

But somehow, his mind gets fuzzy under the bright moon, and warm air, finding his mind wandering to the subconscious of dreams.

He saw someone...

He knew he had seen him somewhere...in a happier time...

Someone...

Someone with strong, smooth hands that had worked and cooked and hoisted him up, high on broad shoulders, and ran around the yard so he would feel he was flying, with the same hands that had tucked him in at night. Someone with vibrant green eyes- not amber like his fading memories had caused him to start to painstakingly believe- but green eyes that seemingly looked like his own, twinkled like sugar when he laughed loud and amiable, and fuzzy hairs on his chin that tickled his cheeks when he would get kissed...

He sighed and rolled over, reaching his hand out through his mind, hoping that that Someone would take his fingers in his own, and hoist him on his shoulders like he used to...

But he can't, because the scarf is in the way, wrapped around tight, contrasting sharply to the emerald designs on his clothes and, _Daddy, why is your scarf red if you're from the Earth Kingdom? Don't you think it's silly?_

He never could remember the answer.

That Someone had told him that the greatest love you can give another, is to sacrifice your own happiness for their's, so that they are happy, even if it hurts you. That wise person had told his little self -that Someone, shining with love so bright that he had felt as if his hero were the Sun Spirit shining upon him- had said that that kind of sacrifice, shows just how much you are willing to give up for the people you love, and that that kind of sacrificial love, is the greatest honor your soul can hold.

So he smiles for Mako.

He doesn't complain when he is hungry or hurt.

He smiles and laughs and is optimistic, because who else would be if he isn't?

Because all he ever wants from the world is for Mako to be happy.

That Someone is calling out his name, laughing, and he can almost remember how that Someone always smelt like shaving cream and spices, and that Someone is holding out his hand again, smiling_, C'mon, Bolin...Bolin...Bo..._

_D-dad...?_

_Bo...Bo..._

_Bo...Wake up!_

"Bolin, wake up!"

With a gasp, he starts, nearly banging his head on Mako's as he tries to calm his thumping heart.

"Ahhhh! W-what? Who's there?!"

"Hey, take it easy! It's just me, bro. It's okay..." Mako's gentle eyes and warm hands come into focus through his sleep-drowned vision.

"M-mako...?" He squinted, his eyes agusting to the glowing fire in the elder boy's hand.

"Yep, the one and only. Sorry I was back so late."

"Oh." was his replay, "Okay."

Mako frowned, "You okay?"

"Fine."

Mako looked at his brother for a moment, studying his grimy face, and sighed wearily. He reached out and tried to smooth back the tangles of hairs that hung in his green eyes.

"Geez, Bo...Your hair's growing so long I can barely see your eyes..." Guilt hit Mako as he wondered why he hadn't noticed this before.

"So?"

Mako continued to rub the younger boy's head, dusting away the dirt.

"So, we gotta get your hair cut soon again. You look like a-"

"-No! There's nothing wrong with how I look!" Bolin stated, and slapped Mako's hand away, causing Mako to blink. "I won't let you cut my hair!"

Mako recoiled his hand and gazed at his brother up and down, noticing the younger boy's hardened jaw and grim face.

He didn't know what to do with his hand now, so he let it fall to his side. "Okay, Bo, I won't cut your hair if you don't want...I just thought you'd like it shorter and neater."

Bolin said nothing, turning his gaze to the wall.

Mako sighed once more and mentally prepared himself.

It was just one of those days again.

He hated these days.

He put his hand on Bolin's shoulder and asked gently, "Do you wanna tell me what's wrong? Because I'm sorry, but I'm not a Mindbender here..."

Bolin didn't even smile at his attempt of a joke.

"Was it Jin, again? The Triads?"

Nothing.

Those far away green eyes kept boring wholes into the wall, bits of pebbles shaking.

Mako tried to ignore the tightening in his throat, his doubts as a good big brother once again started to whisper in his ears with each long-lost smile.

_You're a horrible brother._

_You let him down._

_He hates you._

_He doesn't need you anymore._

_He knows all the things you do._

_Horrible, horrible, horrible..._

_Mako, baby, I love you...please, protect your brother..._

_Protect_

_him_

_please_

The Firebender tried all he knew. "Are sure you don't wanna talk about it?"

"Positive." dirt-crusted fists tightened in thier lap.

"Really? 'Cause you seem-"

"-I said _I'm fine, okay?_" The yell came out of the Earthbender's mouth before he had time to stop it.

Mako blinked, eyes wide, "...Okay, Bo..."

A few silent seconds passed.

He decided a subject change might help.

Mako elbowed him with his arm, "Hey, look what I got! _Dumplings._"

Mako tore the bag open, damp paper ripping, hands warming up to start to crisp them to a _delicious golden brown-_

"How come?"

The sad, hardened face softened slightly at the sight of food.

"...Huh?" Mako's brows furrowed.

"I mean... how did you get four?"

For a moment, Mako wanted to yell, to defend himself and say that he was most definitely able to get four dumplings in order to feed them both, all by himself.

But he _wasn't_, so he swallowed what near non-existent pride he had left, and crumbled the wad of paper in his hands, watching the ends crinkle into sparks.

"Bro?"

"Today is 'special', apparently." He muttered, the words feeling wrong in his mouth, soiled by resentment and envy. "People are being nice for once 'cause it's the Avatar's birthday or whatever, and decided to grace us with the gift of two extra dumplings."

_"Oh." _Bolin breathed, "Cool."

Mako knew he should be grateful, but for some reason, the the concept of eating this food given to them made him feel like a charity case, and he could see it in his brother's eyes. The lack of excitement, the lack of happiness, when the sight of food used to make Bolin, even on thier most horrible days smile and jump for joy...

Just the lack.

_Where did his smile go?_

_When did those eyes get so sad?_

_"_Yeah, so eat up. Two for each of us. Just let me heat em' and get 'em all-"

The plumpest dumpling was snatched from Mako heated hand, but was not stuffed desperately in the younger boy's mouth.

Instead, Bolin's grimy thumb jabbed right in the middle of the dough, the hole a perfect circle.

Bolin licked the juice off his fingers and smiled.

Mako was a bit dumbfounded. Well, fine, at least he had finally gotten him to smile. Mako just didn't know how or why.

"Hey, what're you going to it?"

Bolin stared intently at the hole in his dumpling, eyes flickering. Mako didn't dare turn his gaze from his brother, for fear of his smile going away forever.

"I'm pretending it's a candle."

Something broke inside him, then. Mako swallowed back nine years happy-less birthdays before tasting bitterly burnt dough on his tongue; the dumpling's skin blacker than asphalt in his hand.

He stared as Bolin blew out the imaginary flame on a cold, dirty dumpling, and felt tears drip down his face like the wax from a trembling whisk of candle.

_"Happy Birthday, Avatar._"

They won't be on the streets for Bolin's next birthday.

Mako swears it. He swears it to Bolin, to himself, to his dead parents, to anything that'll listen.

_Yes, the strong gets more  
While the weak ones fade  
Empty pockets don't ever make the grade  
Mama may have, Papa may have  
But God bless the child that's got his own  
That's got his own_

Yet, Destiny is cruel, and not ready for them yet for another_ two_ birthdays.

So they will fight, and survive still until the fateful day arrives that will lead them to Toza. _  
_

Mako never believed in wishes, anyway.

But he did believe in hope.

_Protect_

_Bolin_

_please_

Spirits bless the child that got his own.


	15. Chapter 15-The Spark of Life

_The Fire Chakra deals with Willpower, and is blocked by Shame_

_The Earth Chakra deals with Survival, and is blocked by Fear_

* * *

_You boys are both Fire and Earth, part of each other. You are not what your Element says you are, my sons. You are so much more._

_Let the Fire be your heartbeat of Life, and the Earth center you, always._

* * *

_Mako, sixteen; Bolin, fourteen_

* * *

For the countless time in the last eight years, he stares at his blazing fingertips with a mixture of awe and anguish, pride and self-loathing, all burning together in the pit of his stomach, each spark like a beat of his heart, breaking, breaking, breaking…

But the Earth- always Bolin, always- will steady him. It has kept him grounded for all this time, been his very _center._

_Always Bolin. Always._

His flickering eyes are set on his gleaming hands, wishing that the heat dancing on his gloved-palms would burn him, and wonders why he had to be a Firebender.

Wonders why_ fire_ had to be the power that gave him energy to fight, and warmth to stop the shivers, the ability to work, to cook, the power to _protect. _Why it gave power to the will and strive to live, when fire was the very thing that destroyed their lives in the first place. It gave him life, but only after showing him death.

Their parents had been non-benders. Hadn't stood a change against a sadistic, evil Firebender. He wants to ask the Spirits why-if they would even listen to him- why, why, _why, _did he have to discover he had the ability to wield this same, evil power? One that gives him nightmares, screaming bloody murder in the dead hours of darkness, only to be soothed and rocked by his little brother- this same power that took away all they loved.

He knows he needs the fire to protect his brother, to be able to do all the things in order to survive, and that this heat makes it easier. He is eternally grateful that he is a bender, because he knows without a doubt, they both would have died that first year without it. But why, why couldn't he have been an _Earthbender_? Maybe then the nightmares, even years later, would be a little less horrid. Maybe then he wouldn't have to wear gloves, and feel the sting of bile rise up in his throat and his gut twist whenever he dares to look at his scared hands.

The two of them thought Bolin was going to be a non-bender; the poor younger boy had tried and tried, but couldn't produce a single flame or float one little pebble from the ground, until he was ten. And Mako had been _proud_-so, so, proud of his little brother because he knew he had it in him the whole time. And he had secretly prayed to any Spirit that he still dared to believe in, that if Bolin was indeed eventually a bender, that he took after their father's side of the family and was and _E__arth. _He didn't think he could stay sane if both them were fire; how cursed would they have to be, to both bend _evil_, both bend the sickening heat that burned Mommy and Daddy alive?

That's what fire had meant for them for that first horrid year of fighting for survival. Evil. Destruction. Death. Mommy and Daddy's burnt bodies.

He promised them he would never use his bending to hurt anyone. Only to defend, and cook, and protect.

Never hurt.

But they had hurt Bolin.

One day, when a seven-year old Bolin had been getting beaten up- _rage,_ rage and a will to protect his little brother, one so strong, that the same evil fire had sizzled from his clenched fists, and danced to his command had made him break that promise. He had sent the fire right at the thug's faces, grabbed a battered and bruised Bolin, and _ran,_ not thinking twice about it. He didn't think about how sickeningly familiar the pained screams had sounded right before the loud _thud _and the silence that fallowed, or the _Mako, why isn't that man moving?_

Only later that night, as he stared at his trembling hands, did it hit him; he was a Firebender_._

He knew he would bent fire. But he hadn't realized how destructive it could be or that he could _Bend Fire._

But he wasn't proud or even happy about his abilities like he thought his younger self would have been. He tried to imagine a younger him dancing around their house, yelling, showing his power to anyone who would take time to look.

And he realized that that boy wasn't him anymore.

_Mako, what's gonna happen to that man? He was really scary._

He didn't want the fire anymore. He could make the same power that had killed Mommy and Daddy. He was just like him-_The Flaming Monster._

How was he supposed to protect Bolin, and keep them both alive, if he was afraid of himself?

He would have to fight the fear. They would die if he couldn't.

_I don't know, Bo. I don't know anything anymore._

Their parents had had no bending, but one of the few memories he can remember, is his mother telling him about her grandfather who had passed before he was born. How he had been a powerful bender, how he had said that during the war, fire was fouled by _anger _and _hatred_, and how Avatar Aang and Firelord Zuko had changed all that, transformed what it meant to be a Firebender into it being powered by _passion, ambition, drive, protection._ Those were the things, his mother had told his six-year-old self, that if he or his brother ever were a Firebender one day, that those were what they had to remember when bending, and to never forget the Life that the heat can give.

_"Do you understand, my darling?"_ his Mother had looked him in the eyes- amber to amber- and said lovingly_-"It doesn't matter to Daddy or me if you or Bo become benders or not; we will love you just the same. But I need you to know, you are not only Fire Nation, you are also part Earth Kingdom. You boys are two halves of proud heritages, and whether the Earth or the Fire speak to either of you, doesn't define who you are- it is what you do with it that counts. So you must always remember; Fire is Life. It is passion and ambition, drive and protection, not those evil tales of suffering where our ancestors used it wrongly. The Spirits see us all-very person, every Nation- as one. That is what it means to bend Life in the palm of your hand. Do you promise to never forget my words, sweetheart?"_

_"Yes, Mommy! I promise!"_ He smiled and giggled as his mother embraced him, _"I'll be the bestest Firebender ever! Better than Firelord Zuko – or …or a dragon!"_

_"A _dragon_?"_ Meilin laughed, "_You mean like me? RAAAWWWWRRR!" _His mother began to tickle him and Mako squealed and giggled in his grasp.

"_Hahahahaha! M-m-mommy! SHHH! Stop! Ahhh! Hahaha! D-daddy and- and B-bolin are still sleeping! You're gonnna- hahaha - g-g-gonna wake them up!"_

"_You have to say "please!"_

_"P-please!"_

And she stopped and let her son catch his breath as she placed a big, slimy, kiss on his cheek.

_"Mommy?"_

_"Yes, turtle-duck?"_

_"I love you forever."_

_"I love you more, Little Man. Your father and I will always love you forever and be here for you no matter what."_

_"You mean like..._forever_ forever?"_

_"And ever."_

_"Do you think me and Bolin will be Firebenders one day? We can have Agni...Ag-agpi," he sucked in a breath, "..those big duel things..."_

_"'_Agni Kais,'" she corrected, "_and I'm not sure yet. The Spirits could bless you both with Earthbending for all I know. Or you both could be non-benders like your father and me. But I know you both will be incredible."_

He had forgotten. He had broken his promise. He had shamed his Mother. And while he did have drive and ambition to protect his brother and him and survive, there was no passion, no_ life_ to it; the hatred and anger had overcome him, consumed his life and drive and made him into a twisted, bitterly fueled flame that ate away anything that dared to cross its path. Everything he had promised his Mother and himself to never be. Wasn't that a reason why he had took the scarf and always wore it?

For the countless time, he was eternally grateful that his brother didn't have to suffer this internal struggle or feel he had let his Mother down. He wanted to be _E__arth._ He wanted to be sturdy so no one could knock him down; he wanted to be as damn resilient as Bolin was, he wanted to through boulders at thugs instead of picturing himself as that _monster_ of a mugger every time he lit his hands ablaze. He wanted to forget all those times where he had accidentally burnt Bolin; gasps of pain and reddened flesh, followed by tears and a thousand desperate apologies and bandages on his part.

_Why do you always forgive me when I burn you?_

_There's nothing to forgive, bro. You didn't mean it, duh. You are always so hard on yourself. I've accidentally hurt you before dozens of times, but you don't see me hating myself over it._

_But burns can scar._

_Depends on which kinda burn you mean._

_Huh? The burns from my hands, Bolin! I could have killed you!_

_..._

_You weren't meant to kill, Mako. You were meant to give life._

But mostly, he wanted to be free like Bolin was, free of this curse that the fire gave him.

…For the countless time in the last eight years, he stares at his blazing fingertips with a mixture of awe and anguish, pride and self-loathing, all burning together in the pit of his stomach, each spark like a beat of his heart, breaking, breaking, breaking…

But the Earth-always Bolin, always- will steady him. It has kept him grounded for all this time.

And it is then that he realizes...it was never Fire that _fueled_ him. The bittersweet heat wasn't his _passion, ambition, drive, protection._

It wasn't his Life.

It was Bolin.

Always, Bolin. _Always._

All he needed was a spark.


	16. Chapter 16- Proud of Your Boy

_"Why? He got paid. You didn't see any pro-benders crying for us when Mom and Dad died and we got dumped on the streets! Life is hard. You either hustle, or get hustled."_

_-Mako- 'Republic City Hustle' part 1_

* * *

_Hey, guys! I'm back! Warning: will be short and depressing. Bring tissues. Probably two or three more chapters to go after this one. The last one will bring us up to the point where Toza saves them._

* * *

_Warning: this one's gonna be a bit dark, guys. And yes, Mako and Bolin grew up with gang members, so I believe they have heard their fair share of colorful language and use it from time to time, so don't be surprised and say that Bolin wouldn't talk like this when in a dark, brooding mood._

* * *

_-Bolin-_

* * *

It would be your fifteenth birthday in one week.

Mako promised that you wouldn't be on the streets by then.

But winter is coming soon, and the Triads either aren't hiring, or being extra brutal.

You don't know how you've both lived this long. You never though either of you would have made it to teenagers, but you won't dare tell Mako that.

Mako won't let you go near any of the Triads anymore, not after he got arrested for the second time this month, and had to stay over night after being interrogated.

Mako_ f__orbids_ you from working with them. But they have other ideas.

After a argument with him this morning over letting you help out more that contributed of fire-tiped yelling, rock-stomping anger, and ended up in silent, fixed stares set on opposite ends of the alley for maybe two full hours, ignoring each other in pout-faced frustration... you decide to go for a walk.

At first it's all, "_Where are you going? It's going to start raining soon!"_

Dark clouds are rolling in, and the distant lights dancing and cracks of power hitting the ground makes your earth feel_ alive._

You're all eye-rolls and fed-up shrugs, and_ Mako, I'm gonna be fifteen soon! If a killer raindrop hits my head, and makes me melt, at least I won't be near the ally for you to clean up the mess!_

Mako's a conglomeration of hurt, anger, guilt, shock, and you know you are being hurtful and mean, and that Mako is just trying to protect you-but you are high off independence at the moment. The dirt from the wall is starting to become part of the back of your neck, and if you must have one more day sitting in an ally, or with a Triad full of cigarette, opium smelling gangsters, you are going to probably forget what smiles from outside look like.

"Bolin, stop! Please, I'm sorry!"

You keep walking. Pabu wining behind you, but too scared to go out in the upcoming storm.

"You'll get sick! You could get struck by lightning! _You could get mugged!_"

You walk faster, looking for danger, daring for it to find you.

Is this what being Fire Nation feels like?

To have heat in your soul?

The light illuminates the sky once more, the earth vibrating all the way through your feet, up through your chi, and out of your spine.

_Crash!_

The earth was _alive._

The Fire Nation in you crackled in the sparking air surrounding you, your nerves like wires.

Let danger come and find you, you think. Maybe you'll live to see fifteen, maybe even sixteen. You didn't really care at that moment.

You know just because Mako tries to sing you that Spirit-awful song every year, that it will never make your birthday any "happier." That just because you are supposed to make a wish, it doesn't mean it is going to magically make your parents alive again. You tried that when you were seven; some older kid tauntingly convincing you that having a birthday gave you some magic wishing powers that guaranteed any wish to come true.

It had been your first birthday without your parents. Seven years old was a lucky number; it was obvious what you wanted- _needed._

So you had made his wish…and you remember how you had waited.

And waited.

The seven-year old you had gone back to the house that you'd both sworn never to go back to.

That day you had waited.

And waited.

You had called out, peaking inside every window, and searching the yard. Denying every part of you that told yourself to remember what you had witnessed exactly a year before; how they had both stayed so still on the ground, what Mako had told you. But you had made your wish, because it was your seventh birthday, and birthdays were supposed to be _happy,_ so that meant your wishing powers _had_ to work just like the kid had said.

_They just had to_.

You remember thinking that if you had known about wishing powers last year, you could've made Mommy and Daddy better and Mako wouldn't be so unhappy. So you were going to fix everything; bring Mommy and Daddy back and make Mako happy again and then you would be a family once more!

So you had searched.

And had called.

You had tried to go inside, but it was locked for some reason, and knocking on it for five minutes didn't make it open. You went around back, but the broken window from the time Mako had had smashed a ball through it- that he yet to be replaced at the time- was too high up for you to get through.

_They weren't home._

You waited around that house.

Rang, rang, raaaaannnngggg the doorbell.

_Maybe you just hadn't wished hard enough…_

You had still waited.

You remember like it was yesterday.

Until Mako had somehow, in some way, tracked you down to that spot hours later, finding you in a shuddering, crying, mess on the front steps, murmuring how your birthday powers didn't work and how your wish didn't come true. Mako had to explain how wishes really didn't work that way, that there was no such thing as luck or magic…or _hope_; and that the cruel world didn't care about you. You could only care for each other. That being dead meant they stayed dead, and that a year ago from that day when they were killed could not bring them back, no matter how hard you wished.

_"Happy seventh birthday, Bolin."_ You had remembered Mako saying quietly, because this day was not happy in the slightest if you had no one to share it with.

_"They're with the Spirits now, aren't they, Mako? That's what Mommy and Daddy said happened to people to who are gone. Like what happened to Grandpa when I was five? That's why Daddy was so sad, right?"_

The way Mako had looked at you at that moment, had stuck with you all these years, and you could tell he was going to cry when he said,_ "I'm not so sure I believe in the Spirits anymore, Bo. I don't know. But I know Momma and Poppa can still see us, they're still here, so we both have to keep being good boys for them, okay?"_

_"Okay, Mako. I love you."_

_"I love you more."_

You never asked Mako how he found you there, out of all the places you know he must have looked that day. You don't even know how you remembered how to get there. You don't know how Mako ever thought you'd ever go back there again; but you're sure as hell's grateful Mako is as smart as he is. You would've never thought to look for Mako there because you'd never think Mako would ever want anything to do with that place ever again- and you sure barely had the strength to go back on your own. You know that if Mako hadn't found you, that you would have been huddled there all night, totally lost as how to get back to the shelter.

Now, in the present, you pass by the_ same_ alleyway, years later. You're running down the_ same_ street, passing the _same_ barber shop with the _same_ yellow-tinted windows to get back to the House.

Somewhere above, the dark skies start to weep tears that crash to the earth in drops. The thunder and lightning shake the earth, just like that day, as if in warning for something.

You walk, cautiously around the back, climbing through the cracked window that you are now tall enough to reach, and get inside.

It was like nothing had changed. Everything was in its place- albeit covered in a think coating of dust and cobwebs- but if you tried hard enough, you could imagine them upstairs in their bedroom, or she at the kitchen stove, making her ever delicious spicy foods that Mako tells you about during sleepless nights.

You walk- or more like force your shaking body to move- to the center of the living room, and slowly, slowly, approach the big reading chair that you and Mako always used to fight over because it was so comfy and squishy, that you could almost disappear into its cushions.

You sit on it now, curling your legs up, and bury yourself into the pillows until you are invisible.

Daddy used to sit on this chair all the time; sipping his tea, reading you stories. It was Daddy's Chair.

It still smells like dirt and shaving cream, tea leaves, and mommy's lipstick.

You breathe in, and find you have no tears.

After all these years, your tear ducks are dry, or you find yourself crying at the times that you want to be strong.

But now, you _can't_ cry.

You can barely even breath.

"I don't really know what I'm doing here." you breath out, talking to no one in general.

"Some days, I want to be with you both so much, because I really just don't care anymore..." you stuff your face into the fuzz of the arm, letting the smell waft into your nostrils, "But Mako is the only reason that keeps me going...I know that- that you'd want me to be strong for the both of us, and always smile..." a self-deprecating laugh leaves your lips, "Isn't that right, Dad? Mako always tells me that I look like you, that I act like you; how you always used to laugh and smile, making jokes, even when you were down, never showing when you were upset. Always making sure everyone else was happy...Well, I guess I got that from you too, huh?" You wrap your arms around yourself, "But I can barely remember either of you anyway, for the life of me. Your faces, your voices..._nothing." _

The silence echoes back at you, and you dig your fingernails into your thighs.

"You like that, huh?" your voice grows bitter, "I come here to try to preserve your memory, or whatever the hell I was thinking in a rain storm, and I can't even remember which one of you was _Fire_ or _Earth_. It's like I never even had parents, like I was born as a six-year old in some back ally, and that's where my life started. I remember nothing. Just Spirit-damned, friggin' _nothing._"

Silence, still.

A little laugh starts to tickle your throat, until it grows inside you to a full out bitter cackle, as loud as the thunder booming outside.

"Well, I'll_ laugh_! If that's what you want me to do, I"ll laugh my _ass off!_"

Quiet. The most eerie silence ever.

Then, you explode.

"Well," you yell to the empty house, "aren't you gonna_ say_ anything?! Ground me for breaking the vase?!" You pick the glass vase up from the table and fling it across the room, it shattering to pieces against the wall, "Scold me for being too loud and yelling in the house!? Well, guess what!?" You stand up, the ground shaking slightly, "I"M STILL YELLING, AND YOU'RE STILL NOT HOME!"

You're panting, hands fisting at your sides, "BECAUSE YOU'RE DEAD! YOU LEFT US ALL ALONE!"

Just then, your knees give out, and you crumple to the floor, "_Why?_" you whisper, _"Why did you have to leave us all alone? I tried to be a good boy. I really did..."_

You don't know how long you stay there, curled up in that position. All you know is that when you open your eyes to look at the window, it's dark out, and your eyes are wet with salt.

"I'm not going to be useless anymore," you tell them,"I promise, I'll make Mako, and you both proud of me, somehow. I'll get us off the streets. I don't know how, but I will. It's time_ I_ start making some sacrifices for him." You stand up now, straightening your back, "Mako's next birthday will be happy. He'll have a bed, and presents, and _cake_. He will. I'm going to do whatever it takes."

You let your fingers trail up and down the chair for a moment, closing you eyes and taking the feeling in.

"We're going to make something of ourselves, for you." You whisper, "Goodbye."

And your legs take you back to the window which you crawl through. You make your way though the dark, back to Mako, all the while determination and a promise, ringing true in your heart.

"Someday. I _promise."_


End file.
